


Breaker of Rings

by combatfaerie



Series: Breaker of Rings [2]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vikings, Don't copy to another site, Elemental Magic, F/M, Fire Magic, Magic, Sexual Content, The Four Horsewomen, Viking AU, Violence, Wrestling Stable: 4HW | The Four Horsewomen, Wrestling Stable: The Shield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:15:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 70,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25929499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/combatfaerie/pseuds/combatfaerie
Summary: A Viking-era AU. The Four Horsewomen have gained and held the northern lands through might and magic alike, but the Skull King has always been a constant threat from the south. Now aided by a fearsome group called The Shield, the Skull King is set to attack the north once more, and the Four Horsewomen will have to rely on their magic and their allies—Queen Paige, King Finn, and King Drew, the ruling monarchs of the Three Kingdoms—to keep the malicious forces at bay. (0% historically accurate. The historical-accuracy princess was too busy checking her Instagram feed to lend a hand.)
Relationships: Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox & Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox/Seth Rollins | Tyler Black
Series: Breaker of Rings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089200
Comments: 43
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ashleyfanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleyfanfic/gifts).



"They're here!" The declaration, exuberant and proud, seemed to echo off the craggy stones of the shore, disturbing the seabirds enough that they took flight. Even the mass exodus couldn't eclipse the figure at the edge of the water, though, jumping up and down and waving her arms madly. "The Four Horsewomen have arrived!"

Safely shielded by their ship's aura of fire, Bayley groaned. "Why does he always send Nikki of the Cross? King Drew must surely have some other commander knights by now. " She felt the pull of the shore, the grating of millions of grains of sand, and it did nothing to improve her mood. As an earth-etcher, long days out at sea were disorienting to her: there was little she could do to help guide the ship aside from monitor the sea beds, and having no land in sight made her dizzy.

From her vantage point on the ship's figurehead, fashioned into the likeness of a warhorse, Charlotte grinned, her hair blowing back in a breeze of her own making. Normally the air-archer preferred to be at the stern when they were this close to shore, but she loved the ruggedness of King Drew's lands—and, like Bayley, she was eager to disembark. Her gift was far more useful at sea, but it didn't make her a better sailor by any means. "What's that, Bayley? What happened to the woman who hugged so many people in the mead halls that she practically bathed in ale each night?"

Bayley sat down and concentrated on the wood of the ship. Its connection to the land had been severed years ago, but some of the magic still remained, enough to smooth the edges of her temper and her nausea. "Battle happened, Charlotte. Which you would know if you had been in the fray with us instead of flirting with the local prince."

"Our princess still needs to find a match, remember?" From the spark in her eyes, many assumed Sasha was the Horsewoman who wielded fire, but that was simply her fighting spirit. As their water-weaver, she had been invaluable on their journey to King Drew's lands. Calming the seas, distilling water for the women and their horses to drink, keeping the worst of the storms at bay: Sasha had done all that and more, and rarely had a moment's rest. Even now, as their ship entered the shallower waters, she kept busy offering the horses water. "Some of us don't have thrones to go home to, Charlotte. Some of us don't even have _homes_ anymore."

"Shut it, all of you, or we're all going to burn." The voice, strained and severe, came from amidships, where Bex stood with her hands outstretched, sculpting the flames that both protected their ship and held it together throughout the journey. Since the four women were often fighting and travelling alone, there was no way they could carry a traditional longship, so Bex used her magic to bind the pieces together when they were at sea. She hadn't thought her skill set as a fire-forger would be that important on ocean voyages, but she and Sasha were instrumental in the Four Horsewomen's successful raids. No other crew got in and out of villages as quickly as they could, but there was also a price to be paid. Between maintaining the aura of fire that protected the ship and helping to heat the air that propelled it, Bex was nearly exhausted. She was just grateful that King Drew was a straightforward ally, one not given to posturing and power plays—at least not where the Four Horsewomen were concerned. "How far out are we, Charlotte?"

Charlotte held her friend's gaze for a moment and sighed. "We're safe now, Bex. You can let it go." She knew Bex would never ask for assistance, so she subtly adjusted the temperature and flow around the ship so the flames extinguished faster. Even then, Bex staggered against the mast, a relatively recent addition to their ship. When it was just the four of them, they couldn't afford to have both Bex and Sasha weakened after a long journey, so they tried to utilize the sail as well. In cases like this, where secrecy and speed were paramount, however, the sail wasn't an option.

Sasha caught Bex as she stumbled, pressing her cool hands against the fire-forger's cheeks. "We made it. We made it in time."

But Bex shook her head. "I should unbind the ship before we go up to the castle," she protested as Sasha led her to the side of the ship. The water-weaver leapt over the side easily, submerging herself and drawing blues and greens from the water to adorn her hair. She had left it plain for most of the voyage, but Queen Paige from England would be there—along with King Finn from Ireland, across yet another sea—and she wouldn't stand for looking like anything like than a queen herself. Once she was done, she made sure Bex got out of the ship safely before attending to the horses with Bayley.

Nikki of the Cross bounded up to them, her grin a crescent moon on an already pale face. "It's so good to see you again! I told King Drew and others you were on your way! I did!" She pointed up the cliff to what appeared to be just another rocky outcropping. The Four Horsewomen knew it was actually a vantage point built into the natural landscape, one they had spotted on their first arrival to Scotland, much to King Drew's equal dismay and delight. "I was up at the lookout and I thought I saw fire, but everyone else said, _Ach, Nikki, it's just a funeral boat, adrift from a storm_. But I knew!"

Bex had to smile at the knight's rampant enthusiasm. Nikki wasn't much younger than she or Charlotte were, but her energy seemed boundless. Many mistook that for immaturity, but she was one of the king's strongest and most loyal knights—and clearly among the most trusted, if Drew had sent her to greet his unexpected visitors. "You have a keen eye. If you ever decide to take a shining to the sea, you'd be welcome with us."

The knight's eyes went wide with wonder. "Oh! Oh, but I couldn't. I don't have the magic like the lot of you. I'm good with my sword," she added, patting the sheathed weapon at her side, "and fighting and even a bit of strategy, but. . . ."

"Not all things listen to the language of magic, or at least not all the time. We rely on oars and strong arms just as much as Charlotte's winds and Sasha's waves," Bex assured her, slumping in relief when Charlotte came up alongside her. Any of the Four Horsewomen were equipped to discuss their affairs and, in general, speak for the group as a whole, but Charlotte had a physical presence that commanded authority. "Charlotte, I'll dismantle the boat. You go on ahead and meet the king—"

"No need." The voice, rumbling deep, came from over by the caves, and all four of the Horsewomen were surprised that they hadn't noticed King Drew there. His stature was so imposing that nothing less than a mountain ought to be able to hide him, but the shadows had settled around him like a cloak. "You're welcome in my lands at any time, of course, but when Nikki told me of the speed of your approach, I knew this wasn't just a visit to enjoy more of my cellar's offerings, so I thought I would save us all some time." He nodded amicably at Charlotte before standing in front of Bex. "You look a right mess," he declared, then glanced at Sasha and nodded. "You too. Don't worry about the ship. I have some of my best knights on their way, They'll get your ship in the cave."

Bex shook her head adamantly. So often she felt like her power was one of the least useful, so she was determined to use it when she could. "It won't take me long to dism—"

Drew's smile was far kinder than that of most other kings the Four Horsewomen had encountered. "Are you king here?" he asked with a gently chiding laugh. "At best, you fall under King Finn's purview, Bex, though I would be more inclined to say you all belong to the sea. You are, however, my guests, and I insist you rest after your long voyage and enjoy our hospitality. I imagine you timed your visit with Paige and Finn in mind as well?"

Seeing that Bex was still recovering, Charlotte kept pace with King Drew as they walked towards the path that would lead them to the castle. A small band of knights passed them on the beach, nodding at Nikki before they began hauling the Four Horsewomen's ship into the large cave. The king had extended it for just that purpose, but she knew Bex would have felt better if the ship had been stored in pieces like normal; it made it harder to spot from the sea, and definitely harder to steal. The fire-forger managed to gesture back at the ship and loosened the mast just as two of Drew's knights grasped it, and they hollered out their thanks. "There's not much time on our side," Charlotte admitted, "so it's more of a happy coincidence. We were certainly glad when we heard that the Three Kingdoms were already convening."

"And more so in Scotland," Sasha added quietly, walking between her horse and Charlotte's. Bayley tended to her own horse and Bex's, while Nikki and Bex walked just in front of them, chattering warmly in some language the other Horsewomen didn't understand. They all came from different lands, different backgrounds, but their sisterhood was stronger for it. "Paige's lands are a little too close to some of the Skull King's for comfort."

King Drew let out a groan at the familiar name. "Aye, that means this definitely isn't just for mead then. Has that brute been causing trouble again?" Despite his size and his strength, Drew was one of the most peaceful rulers the Three Kingdoms had ever known. He might have used violence to gain his throne, but thus far his reign had been kept intact mostly through savvy alliances and accords. Paige hadn't been quite so fortunate—or, in some cases, so smart—and had been engaged in several battles that had drained her resources and decimated her army.

"Apparently his queen isn't happy just having the southern lands," Bayley replied, "so he's been making a push again. So far, we've been able to hold his forces off, but we've heard rumours that he has new allies. Have you heard anything about an army called The Shield?"

The king shook his head, pausing to show Sasha and Bayley where they could leave the horses. A few young girls ran out of the stables almost instantly, so in awe of the Four Horsewomen that their fingers fumbled with the reins. "They'll be fine with the girls," he assured his guests. "If anything, they might be overcoddled."

Sasha laughed and kissed her horse's nose before the girls could take the horses away. "As long as they don't make a habit of it. If the horses start getting pampered, they'll be about as useful in battle as our princess is."

Charlotte shot her a sharp look. She was the tallest of the Horsewomen, not much shorter than Drew, but her strength wasn't purely physical. For all Sasha's teasing, Charlotte had done just as much—if not more—to prove her worth and earn her spot in the group. "Some of us can destroy our enemies with our beauty _and_ our brawn."

"You forgot brains," Bex whispered. Nikki was still at her side, but the fire-forger was standing firmly on her own and most of the tremor had left her hands. "And a few other choice things. We'll need them all if we're to stand a chance against the Skull King. His attacks were bad enough before, but at least then most of the villages had managed to send out a rider and spread the word. Now he's just razing everything in his path, leaving nothing but ash. . . ." She trailed off quietly, casting her gaze down. One of the first riders they had intercepted had accused Bex of being in league with the Skull King on account of the unnatural way the flames did his bidding.

"We have all that and more," the king assured her, "and you're welcome to it all. The Skull King is bad enough on his own, but if his queen and her family start taking over more lands, our best hope for freedom will be to head to the west, and how deep that ocean is and how distant that shore is remains beyond our ken." Drew gave Sasha and Bex a sobering look. "It may even be beyond your powers, and you know how highly I esteem those, one and all."

"So much that you're hogging our guests all to yourself, I see." Just as Drew had managed to conceal himself down on the shore, King Finn seemed to appear out of nowhere. In many ways, he was the polar opposite of the Scottish king: short, slim, quiet. When it came to battle, though, he was as fierce as any demon. "I assume the tidings are grim," he added as he approached the Four Horsewomen, "but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate seeing you all the same. Princess." He hugged Charlotte first, perhaps to help hide the fact that it was the shortest embrace he gave. Sasha and Bayley got longer greetings, punctuated by low laughs and bright smiles. When he reached Bex, Nikki squeaked at his look of consternation and scampered to the side when the Irish king approached. "I was watching your approach, my sister, and that was reckless, even for you." _Sister_ was more endearment than fact; when he had used his Irish pet names for her, it only stirred up speculation, so he went with something simpler for both their sakes. "You were far enough in the ocean's hands that you could have dropped your shields and saved your strength. I'm guessing there's a fight brewing and if that's the case, you'll need all the power you can spare for that. Don't waste it."

Bex allowed herself to relax in his embrace for just a moment. Finn had taught her so much—as a warrior, as a friend, as a king—and she knew that he was a big part of why she felt she could tackle the seas without fear. "I wasn't. We needed to get here quickly, and undetected." She had layered in an extra enchantment, one that allowed their allies to see the ship while it remained cloaked from their enemies, and the extra cost made her bones feel hollow. "The Skull King—"

"It's going to rain!" The bellowing voice came from the castle gate, where Queen Paige was waiting irritably, gesturing at the darkening skies. "So get inside and tell the story once, and be warm and fed at the same time!"

Watching Paige turn on her heel and go back into the castle, Drew shook his head. "Swans around like she owns the place," he muttered. 

Finn clapped the Scottish king's back amicably. "And now you know why I'm glad there's a sea between her lands and mine."

"I don't know. I'm not sure even a sea can keep Paige and her England back," Charlotte remarked as they got moving again. She and Sasha could have kept the storm at bay, but none of the Horsewomen liked interfering with natural rhythms any more than absolutely necessary: it was a strain on their power, and they found that by using their magic sparingly, the natural world was far more likely to work with them than against them.

"Let's worry about the Skull King first," Drew advised, raising a hand to signal a guard in a high tower. "Right now, England is the least of our worries."


	2. Chapter 2

After finally being able to quiet her magic and catch her breath on the trek to the castle, Bex was ready to launch right into the Horsewomen's worries about the Skull King, but Drew had insisted that they bathe and eat first. "There's nothing more we can do today," he pointed out, "so what difference does it make if you regale us now or later? Relax. Cast off your cares. There will be a feast waiting for you." Glancing over at Paige, he added, "And we will _all_ grant you some space to clear your heads."

Paige gave a simple shrug. "I would be happy to bathe with them and save you the trouble, King. I know your kingdom is struggling. . . ."

"The day my kingdom cannot afford to draw a bath for its allies," Drew retorted, summoning some attendants for the Horsewomen, "is the day I lay down my sword. The bath in your chambers will suffice for you. Let's give our visitors the respect they deserve and a well-earned rest."

"You have our thanks." Bayley hooked her arm in Bex's and tugged her along. "Don't glare at me," she said pre-emptively. "If we didn't accept the bath and the meal, he would have told us to sleep and reconvene in the morning. Baths can be quick, and we can talk while we're eating, at least."

"If Paige will let us get a word in edgewise," Charlotte remarked. As soon as they entered the bathing chamber, she was the first to disrobe, leaving her travelling clothes in a pile near the entrance before stepping into the heated water gratefully. As her Horsewomen sisters loved to remind her—sometimes too often for her liking—she was royalty by birth, a princess waiting for a proper match, and while she loved roaming and fighting, she still enjoyed luxurious comforts too. "Are we sure she's not in league with the Skull King? I thought her family and Queen Stephanie's were aligned once, weren't they?"

Sasha let out a soft snort as she peeled off her salt-stiff clothes. As the water-weaver, she usually ended up the dirtiest after a long voyage at sea. "Your father was too, wasn't he? Who knows? If Stephanie hadn't made her play, perhaps you would be Queen Charlotte right now. . . ."

Charlotte started to rise out of the heated bath, ready to scoop up a handful of water and splash Sasha with it. Then she remembered who she was dealing with—and what she was surrounded by. Sasha had nearly boiled someone alive and barely broken a sweat, so it would be nothing at all to heat the bath water enough to give Charlotte some burns in rather delicate places. "You know that's not the life I want. I understand my duty to my family and my lands, and I know that one day I'll take the throne, but that doesn't mean it won't be on my terms."

Bex and Bayley shared a look. Since they were all as close as sisters, that meant they also had the same level of strife between them, but it seemed worse between Charlotte and Sasha somehow. Bex thought they were too alike for their own good, while Bayley thought the opposite: in Charlotte, Sasha saw someone who had every luxury, every opportunity, and cast them aside like mere trifles while people like her—and Bex and Bayley—had been struggling all their lives. "We're supposed to be relaxing, remember?" Bex felt the soreness and the strain of the flames in every muscle as she took off her clothes, but she still thanked the attendants who whisked away their gear to be cleaned and left comfortable robes for each of them. "If we don't, Drew will simply . . . try making us relax, and then Paige will throw a fit, and we'll accomplish nothing. So let's bathe and eat and then tell our story so we can get some proper rest." Sleeping at sea was difficult at the best of times, but she and Sasha hadn't had much rest on their latest voyage. If Drew had offered her a comfortable bed at that very moment, Bex would have had a difficult time refusing it.

Bayley waited until Bex had eased into the water to follow, but it was hard for her to keep still. The bath was the size of a small pond, giving her room enough to swim around without disturbing the others. After the earth, the water was her favourite element—perhaps because it was Sasha's. "Do we actually think they'll be able to help?" she asked. "Paige and Drew barely get along, and Finn's lands are so far away. By the time he could muster his army and have them set sail, the Skull King would probably have burned down the last forest separating us."

"We'll have to make sure that doesn't happen." Charlotte washed herself with surprising quickness—for her, anyway—and floated over to Bex, who rested against the wall of the bath with her eyes shut. She and Bex were bonded the same way Sasha and Bayley were—maybe even tighter, in her estimation, because of the differences in their background. If she could, she would have given Bex any throne in the world, but Charlotte knew Bex was happiest on their ship, or on her horse—in motion, taking action. If there was anyone ill-suited to the life of a royal, it was Bex. "Turn around," she instructed, tugging at Bex's salt-crusted hair. "Let me work on this mess before Paige tries her hand at it."

"I don't know why you're all so hard on her," Bex murmured, wincing slightly when Charlotte came up against a tangle that didn't want to loosen. She dunked her head under the water for a moment so all her hair would be wet. "Her family took me in when I left Finn's ranks and set out on my own. Her mother taught me as much about fighting as Finn did."

Sasha eased her fingers through her hair, enhancing the blue she had taken from the sea and adding more green from the minerals in the bath. " _Her mother_ did," Sasha emphasized. "Ever since Paige was injured in battle, she just . . . she has this look about her, okay? I don't trust it. I respect the history you two have, Bex. But I just don't think she's as happy on the throne as she lets on. I think she would take the first opportunity she got to stir up a battle again, and the Skull King and his queen are smart enough to find a way to lure her in and make her feel like she's the one in control. She wouldn't see the manipulation until it's too late."

Bex couldn't bring herself to disagree, at least not out loud. There was plenty of truth in Sasha's words, uncomfortable and unnerving truths. She wanted to believe the best of Paige, but even she had to admit there were plenty of reasons to not to. "Then we'll just have to convince her otherwise. If you're right and she wants a battle, convince her to fight on our side. She must know that the Skull King destroys anything and anyone he can't turn to his own ends, and if he doesn't, his queen doesn't bother with subtlety. They would allow Paige to keep her throne only until Stephanie could find someone more to her liking." She felt Sasha's flinty gaze slide her way and was about to protest before she remembered that Charlotte was behind her, curiously quiet. Charlotte hadn't been in contact with her father for years, so who could say what promises and alliances he had made in her absence? If he couldn't marry her off to the Skull King, a throne under the tyrant's reign could be considered the next best option.

Bayley had been the least jaded of the Four Horsewomen, but enough battles and hardships had stripped that cheery veneer away. Some of it returned now, underscored by the sourness of guile, as she met the gaze of each of her sisters in turn. "Let's tell Drew we want to talk over dinner," she suggested. "We can see how Paige reacts to our announcement—if Drew hasn't spoiled it already, that is—and judge from there. And we should be wary of _everyone_ , even Drew. I know he's our ally," she added hastily, "but we've all seen how proud he is of his kingdom. Who knows what he would do to keep it? Maybe the Skull King promised him he would stay on the mainland and leave the islands in peace in exchange for his help."

Charlotte shook her head. "Drew would never. Finn would never. Even . . . even Paige," she said at last, as if it pained her to do so. "I'm not fond of the queen, but I know how proud she is. I know that flavour of pride. You have to nurture that, and you can't do it by eating out of someone else's hand. You have to feed it yourself."

Bex rolled her shoulders in the water, wondering how much of Charlotte's rebuttal was opinion and how much was a confession. It was all going to make for a lively dinner, at any rate.


	3. Chapter 3

When King Drew had said there would be a feast waiting for them, the Four Horsewomen assumed it was an exaggeration. Drew was a proud and powerful king, to be sure, but they had arrived after the final meal of the day and would have been quite happy with some simple bread and stew to tide them over until the next morning. After they were done in the bath, the Horsewomen followed their assigned attendants up to the sleeping chambers—one of each of them, complete with their expertly cleaned clothing and a generous selection of fresh attire to choose from. Charlotte and Sasha both revelled in the luxury of the options, while Bex and Bayley dressed as quickly and simply as they could and went back downstairs. "We'll get the best wine this way," Bayley declared as they were about to enter the private dining hall.

"And we get to choose our seats," Bex replied. They both paused in the entryway, though, stunned by the spread of delicacies on the table. Drew's claim of a feast was no mere figure of speech, and she was surprised the table's legs weren't buckling under the weight. "Drew, we weren't at sea for a year. This is far too much."

The king lifted one shoulder in a shrug as he stood to greet his guests. Seated at the other end of the long table was Finn, with Paige roughly halfway between them. Courtesy of the hewn stone walls and the castle's lofty elevation—and likely more than a hint of magic—the private dining hall's acoustics were exquisite; the larger one, meant for huge banquets, was designed more with function in mind. "It was no trouble," Drew insisted, hugging each woman in turn. "What doesn't get eaten now won't be wasted. My kitchens are full of talented cooks who know how to make food stretch far. Please, eat your fill. If there's something you would like and you don't see it, I can have it prepared."

"I don't see how. I don't even know what some of these things are." Bayley poked at what she assumed was a fish of some kind. "I've never seen anything like this in our waters."

"It comes from the south—from the ocean mouth of the Mediterranean." Finn held up a piece on his fork. "You're welcome to try some of mine."

Bex poured herself a glass of wine while Bayley went to examine the fish. Paige was watching her intently, so she embraced her before walking around the table and picking a chair roughly across from hers; there would be more space for the Horsewomen to sit on the side opposite Paige, and they didn't want to appear to play favourites, especially when they were in Drew's lands. "It's been a long time. Is your family well?"

Paige gave a small nod, holding her wine glass up to a candle and swirling it slowly. "As well as ever," she answered. "But I'm guessing the news you bring means that's all about to change."

Still chewing the foreign fish, Bayley dutifully gave Paige a hug before joining Bex on the other side of the table. "We should probably wait for Sasha and Charlotte. They won't be long."

Drew laughed. "Yes they will. I saw the attendants hurrying here and there, collecting dresses. We don't have much on hand that will fit Charlotte, but hopefully she'll find something she likes." Then he gestured at Bex and Bayley's far simpler choices. "If someone didn't know any better, they would assume you were common villagers."

"That's the point. It's a lot easier to get out when you blend in." Bex grabbed her plate and started grabbing items from various serving dishes. The spread was impressive, almost daunting, but it was also mostly food that could be eaten by hand, which she appreciated. Even after the soothing bath, her hands were still cramping, so Bex didn't relish the thought of trying to use dainty utensils. "But the dresses were lovely too."

"If you like that sort of thing," Finn interjected, "which you don't." Then he laughed too, pouring himself more wine. From the looks of his plate, he had already had several servings, but he still reached for another chicken leg. "How were the seas? We've had some wicked storms back home that have prevented my ships from heading out."

Bayley glanced over at Bex. Given half a chance, Bex would downplay her contributions, so Bayley was quick to speak up. "The storms stretched to our shores as well, but Sasha and Bex kept us safe for the entire voyage." Beaming with pride, she wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. Much of her warm friendliness had been chipped away over the years, but her love for her sisters never waned.

"We all did our part." As if by habit, Bex glanced over at the large hearth. The fire it housed was still healthy enough, but she sent it a gentle pulse of energy to stoke it. Finn growled under his breath and shook his head, and Bex soundly ignored his disapproval. "A good meal and a proper night's rest will get us back in fighting form."

Mercifully, Charlotte and Sasha arrived then, and their rounds of greetings distracted the royals from Bex and Bayley, who concentrated on eating. Gorging would be a mistake, only leaving them sick and uncomfortable, so they made sure to pace themselves. Charlotte wasn't quite so wise, helping herself to two glasses of wine in quick succession before starting to load her plate with food. "So what's the Skull King up to now? Is his queen no longer satisfied with the lands of sun and wine?" Drew grabbed an empty bottle and waggled it grimly. "It's hard to get a decent bottle that doesn't have their stench on it."

Bex wiped her mouth with her napkin, now wishing she had opted for water instead. Drew seemed to guess as much and poured her a glass from a large ewer. "Thanks. He's definitely making a push for the north, and he's not being subtle about it. He's burning almost everything in his wake."

Charlotte patted Bex's shoulder. "Some accused us of being in league with him because of his use of fire," she explained, "but Bex was far to the north—"

"She would never." Finn's simple, unwavering surety cut through the room like a scythe. "You think he has magic users working for him, then? He certainly has the means to procure them, and not all are as conscientious as the Horsewomen, alas. In some cultures, magic users are feared, not revered, and those people would be easy to recruit with the simplest of kindnesses and considerations."

Tearing her bread into pieces—a habit held over from her youth—Sasha shrugged. "We've heard rumours of an army called The Shield, but no one seems to know much about them. We were hoping you would."

Drew shook his head again and Finn appeared deep in thought, as if scouring his memory, but Paige outright laughed. "The Shield? Truly? You crossed the churning sea and held off enemies and the elements because you were worried about _The Shield_?" Her laughter almost hardened to a cackle as she threw her head back. "Oh, darlings, you could have sent an apprentice in a boat to me and saved yourselves the trouble."

The Four Horsewomen exchanged a look of confusion. They had been to countless villages, some still steeped in embers, and the devastation was definitely real. "You don't consider them a threat, then?" Sasha asked. Like Becky, she had switched to water after hearing Finn's story. "I think the _hundreds_ of homeless and dead would beg to differ."

Paige waved a hand as she caught her breath, wilting a bit under Drew's stern, steady glare. "I meant no disrespect to the dead or the survivors. _Shield_ is a common enough term among warring people. Maybe the group I know of is different. . . ."

"Group?" Bex frowned at the description. From the ravages they had seen, the Four Horsewomen were expecting a force beyond reckoning. "We thought the Skull King had perhaps created a new army, or maybe his queen brought in fighters from her homeland. . . ."

"If it's the men I'm aware of," Paige replied, taking a long swallow of wine, "they are only three in number. Perhaps just two now. I heard that one of them had run off with a bard from across the channel, but it seems to be a matter of some debate."

Charlotte's eyes went wide. "Three men? How could three men wreak so much havoc?"

Finn motioned at the Horsewomen not unkindly. "How can four women on horseback command so much land and so much respect?"

Bayley gave an indelicate snort as she started to reload her plate. "Because we have magic, obviously." The realization made her sit down with a thump in her sturdy chair, nearly bumping up against Bex. "Does that mean they're . . . they're like us? All of them? Then what can the others do?"

All four of the Horsewomen fell silent. There were other magic users in the world—one of their allies from the east, Asuka, was a powerful sorceress—but they seemed to be few and far between. If the Skull King was indeed finding them and recruiting them, the north wouldn't stay free for long. The four women had all been largely self-taught, but the Skull King and Queen Stephanie would make sure their men had the very best training. "It's a distinct possibility," Drew said grimly, "and one we must prepare for. I'll instruct Nikki to assemble a force of our canniest fighters, those she trusts the most." His smile warmed somewhat when he added, "I do hope her enthusiasm isn't too off-putting for you. She finds inspiration in you all, and I hate to dim it."

"It's fine," Bex assured him before Bayley could complain. "It's a high compliment. But make sure you don't leave your lands undefended. The ravages of the south could be a diversion for another attack."

Finn stood, giving Bex an odd look she wasn't sure how to read. "I'll head home first thing in the morning and send out half my forces; the Skull King is less likely to see profits in my lands than in England or Scotland. The majority will go to the north—to you, Bex, with instructions to follow your commands like my own—but I'll send a scout ship to the Mediterranean as well. I have new allies there who may be able to assist us." With a smile, he added, "That means an early night for me, alas. I would much rather stay and enjoy the lovely company, but. . . ."

"Another time," Drew said with firm confidence. "And perhaps England can bring some of the wine next time." Winking at Paige, he went to embrace Finn, murmuring something in his ear before the Irish king took his leave of the others. 

In Finn's absence, the mood in the dining hall turned sombre, Drew and Paige discussing—and often bickering—about how to proceed. Charlotte did most of the battle planning on behalf of the Four Horsewomen, with Bayley adding surprisingly keen observations. "Sasha, Bex, if you're done eating, you two should go rest. I don't think we should set out tomorrow yet," Charlotte insisted, "because you're both too weakened, but if we could manage the day after. . . ."

Bex and Sasha shared a look and a nod. Their lands wouldn't care how exhausted they were, how much magic and energy they had expended. The flames of the Skull King wouldn't grant them mercy because they were tired. "We'll be ready," Sasha declared. "And the Skull King won't be."


	4. Chapter 4

Bex needed sleep. She knew that. The hearty meal had definitely helped, along with the soothing soak in the bath. Even the simple comforts of clean clothes and a proper bed did wonders. But too much preyed on her mind, and when Bex was still awake after hearing everyone else retire to their respective chambers, she waited a few minutes more before creeping down a staircase designed for servants. She knew ways through the castle that her Horsewomen sisters did not, and she was hoping the secret paths would work to her advantage yet again. 

The final staircase she took was known to very few. Drew knew of it, of course; it was one of the first things he was shown upon his coronation. He told Bex that Finn knew about it as well, but she wasn't sure if that was the truth or simply meant to comfort her since he knew how close she was to the Irish king. To the best of her knowledge, Paige—and anyone from England—was unaware, and Drew wanted to keep it that way. After grabbing a torch from the wall to light her path, Bex descended the cramped, winding stairwell. With so little ventilation and light, it should have smelled wretched, but she caught only the brine of the sea and perhaps a hint of moss. No creatures scuttled underfoot; no spider webs shrouded her path. It was so clean that she idly wondered if Drew had a highly trusted servant clean it each week.

The last step opened into a small cave, and the call of the sea made Bex shut her eyes and sigh. Even after that perilous journey, even when her power was the complete opposite of water, she still craved the ocean's song like nothing else. It was her second pulse, her second home, and even though she was tired to her bones, she would have gladly pushed her ship back into the waves and set sail if she thought it was safe. Instead she pressed her hand to the curiously flat stone embedded in the wall and waited until the secret door lurched open. She had no more than slipped through the opening before the dark stone slab started easing back into place, and within seconds, it was indistinguishable from the surrounding crags once more. 

The moon, the stars, and the torch were her only sources of light, but those three paired with her knowledge of the shore were enough to get her safely to the cave where the Horsewomen's ship had been stowed. After slotting the torch in a hook fastened to the cave wall, Bex hugged the warhorse figurehead. Charlotte's father had commissioned it for her, though for a much grander ship, and while the Horsewomen often spoke of exchanging it for one of their own design, they never quite had the heart to make the change. For Charlotte, it was a symbol of approval from her father; for the other three it was a clear link to their name, their notoriety—an anchor in the positive sense as well as the negative. She raised her hands to stroke the expertly carved mane and rested her forehead against the horse's neck for a moment, lost in thought. She and her sisters had been through so much together, but she knew it couldn't last forever. Eventually one of them would want to settle down, start a family of their own, make the land their home instead of the sea. She just hoped the separation would be mutual and without malice, because she wouldn't want any of the Horsewomen as an adversary.

When she felt drops of wetness on her arm, at first Bex thought there was a leak in the cave roof, but soft, silent tears were coursing down her cheeks, lingering on the underside of her chin before giving way and falling. "Get to it," she told herself firmly, "before they notice you're gone." After wiping her face roughly, Bex returned her hands to carved horse and, feeling the magic heat up her fingers, pried it free.

Normally when she disassembled the ship, she had her Horsewomen sisters at her side, taking the removed pieces out of her way and holding things in place while she worked. It was possible to do it all on her own, but more difficult, and Bex worked at it steadily. To the rhythm of the ocean behind her, she sang songs from her youth, songs about the sea and loss and all the things that seemed to define her people; it made her feel like she had her whole family at her back. She didn't realize someone actually was until she set the figurehead aside and straightened up to reach for the mast. 

"At least I know you're not doing something foolish like leaving on your own," Finn said, his lively eyes shining even in the gloom of night, "without telling anyone."

Bex slumped back against the ship and sighed. Apparently King Drew hadn't been placating her when he said Finn also knew about the secret escape route. "So much for the _early night_ ," she chided, remembering how he had excused himself from the late meal. "If you are truly heading out in the morning, you should be sleeping. How long have you been waiting out here for me?" He knew her well enough to know the ship would nag at her.

"Thickheadedness must run in the blood," he replied, avoiding her question entirely. Smiling, he tapped his knuckles against the side of her head. "Pity that fire magic doesn't. I could make good use of it back home." When Bex narrowed her eyes, he held up his hands and gave a slight bow. "That wasn't an attempt to lure you home. Though if it would work—"

"Finn." Bex gave the figurehead a loving pat and moved closer to the mouth of the cave, taking a deep breath as she looked out at the sea. "You know I need the sea right now. Later, when things change, when _I_ change, maybe I can be what the land needs, but for now—"

"I know." Finn stood at her side and slung an arm around her shoulder, drawing her in close. There was such familiarity in the motion, such comfort. She had spent almost as much time with the Horsewomen now as she had under Finn's tutelage, but she would always be in his debt. Tugging lightly on her hair, he added, "Charlotte mentioned that some people accused the Horsewomen of working with the Skull King because of the fires. . . ."

Bex shook her head. "Me. They accused me. Charlotte was being kind, trying to shoulder some of the stigma." Knowing Finn would let her get no more work done that night, she motioned to a rock out in the shallowest waves where they could sit without being spotted by the night watch in the lookout tower. The water lapped at their legs as they walked to it and climbed up, but the view alone was worth it. "And I don't blame them for it. I'm the only fire-forger I know of in the northern lands, so it stands to reason that they—"

"That they what?" Finn kept his tone gentle, but Bex could hear the taut rage within in it, like blood peacefully surging through a vein only to erupt like a volcano with the slightest nick of a blade in just the right place. "Bex, were you harmed?"

She looked away for a long moment, seeking solace in the sea. Yes, the accusations had hurt. She had spent years, both with the Horsewomen and on her own, fighting injustices and using her powers to help the struggling villagers, so to have them turn against her so easily, with no more proof than the ashes at their feet and in their hair, hurt more than an arrow to the chest. But she knew Finn meant something else. "It was all bluster," she said, hoping her voice was level. "Accusations. Bold talk. Handfuls of ash shoved in my face. Nothing I couldn't bear." Nothing she wasn't used to, anyway, which wasn't exactly the same thing. She had been called _Witch_ and _Demon_ and worse in so many tongues that it almost became like a game, taking the words from different languages and regions and seeing how they compared to each other; it helped take some of the sting out of the denunciations, at least.

"Do your sisters know all of that?" Finn asked softly. 

It was clear he suspected that there was more—and worse—but he didn't push. Bex was grateful for that. "They know enough."

"Bex." The rock was big enough for all the Four Horsewomen to sit comfortably, but Finn edged closer and gripped her hand, squeezing gently. "You are always welcome home. Whether it's for a meal or a day, a month or a year or eternity. There will always be a place for you. Know that."

She did. Bex considered it the heart of her flame, and the kindling in her heart. Knowing she had that love to return to was what gave her the strength to venture into battle in the first place. "I know. And one day I will," she promised. "For now, tell me about these new allies of yours in the Mediterranean. I gather you're quite fond of their food, if the fish at the banquet is any indication." It wasn't just a canny way to stop him from coddling her; when it came to strategizing, Finn was usually very forthcoming, so it was suspicious that he hadn't elaborated on his new ties. "Would any of them happen to be marriage material?"

"Why? Are you looking?" Finn nudged her shoulder playfully, but stopped just short of meeting her gaze. The smile pulling at his flushed cheeks told the story, though. "I thought you just said you weren't ready to settle yet, but if you've changed your mind, I can put in a word—"

"Any of the women I've met from that region are very intense. Very kind." Bex slid her gaze over to Finn, but he was still looking far out to sea. "I'm sure one would be a lovely queen for you."

"I'm sure one would." The smile gave way to a laugh and he tipped his head back as he sighed, grinning up at the stars. "And I think I've almost convinced her. It would have been easier without this damnable Skull King always lurking in the shadows, but let's hope the combined might of the Three Kingdoms will be enough to keep him at bay." He tried to regain his kingly aplomb, but it was no use; his elation could not be contained so easily. "I would love for you to meet her, Bex. She'll be coming back in spring, for the equinox—"

"That," Bex promised softly, "sounds like an excellent reason to visit home. Any woman who can make you smile like the moon and shine like the sun is a woman I need to meet."

"If anyone could convince you to stay," Finn smiled in reply, "it would be her." He squeezed Bex's shoulders again. "If things get truly dire and the northern lands are lost, come home. Please. Even if your Horsewomen want to go elsewhere. I need to know you're safe. It's hard enough having half of my heart in a foreign land. I can't bear thinking of you under the Skull King's heel."

"It won't come to that." Bex wished she felt as confident as she sounded. They both fell silent then, lulled by the waves at their feet and the stars above their heads. "We should probably get back to the castle," she said with a sigh. Taking apart the ship hadn't been a goal to accomplish; it was only meant to soothe her spirit and keep her hands busy, and the ship was safe enough in its current state. She wouldn't be if any of her sisters caught her out of bed when she was meant to be recuperating.

"We should," Finn agreed. He hopped down first and offered her his hand out of habit, and to placate him Bex took it. By the time they waded back to the shore, they were both soaked from the waist down, and they paused to wring the majority of the water out of their clothes before grabbing Bex's torch from the ship's cave and heading for the secret entrance. Finn opened it this time, arranging a certain group of loose stones within a gap in a special sequence. When the door opened, they both darted inside, taking care with their wet feet on the winding stone stairs. The trek up always seemed longer than the one down, and they were both panting lightly when they reached the inner secret door. "Promise me you'll be careful," Finn whispered, kissing her forehead as they were about to part ways before reaching the sleeping quarters. "My future queen won't ever forgive me if she never gets the honour of meeting you. I've sung your praises so highly and so often that she might want to marry you instead."

"If she does, she's a fool when she could have you," Bex countered. Finn was one of her oldest friends, and she treasured him dearly; she could only hope this woman did the same. "Come say farewell before you leave. No matter how early."

"Of course." 

After one last hug, they parted ways, and Bex barely convinced herself to peel off her sodden clothes and dry off before pulling a nightgown over her head and succumbing to the bed. Between the vile accusations and the encroaching threat of the Skull King, she needed a beacon, some ray of light to seek and follow. The spring equinox and meeting Finn's intended wife was as good as any.


	5. Chapter 5

Exhaustion could be a fickle beast. Often it was when Bex was tired to the bone and could barely keep her eyes open that her mind refused to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. That night, however, sleep came with merciful quickness, barely waiting for her to draw up the covers. She gave the credit to Finn's calming presence and reassuring words, but realistically she knew the others were all correct: she had overtaxed herself and now her body was taking its payment.

She didn't know how many times Finn had knocked in the morning, because she was deeply asleep, immersed in a dream of a battle. She knew enough of what the Skull King looked like to picture him, but The Shield were a mystery. It was easy to imagine them as tall, imposing men—Paige had confirmed that they were men, at the very least—but beyond that they were a blur of violence and cruelty in her head. "Becca!" The voice wasn't even that loud—Finn wouldn't want to disturb anyone's slumber before he left—but the choice of name made Bex wake almost instantly. Her Horsewomen sisters never called her anything but Bex; it was only her family and Finn who used _Becca_. It felt like it was a treasure from some part of her life she had tucked away and left behind, utterly at odds with her Horsewomen sisterhood and their ship hidden far below. 

"I'm awake." As she opened her eyes and saw how much sunlight was pouring through the window, she was surprised she hadn't woken sooner. She struggled to sit up and had just about managed it when Finn entered, clearly waiting to make sure she was dressed. "Bright and early, as promised," she remarked, moving to the side so he had room to sit beside her. All the guest quarters in Drew's castle were generously sized, but Bex tended to sprawl, taking up as much room as she could. Charlotte liked to tease her and say that it was her way of compensating for her short stature.

"Bright, yes," Finn agreed, hugging her tightly. "But not as early as I would have liked. Our gracious host has a way of making a person take their time."

"I'll keep that in mind for when it's time for us to take our leave." Bex rested her head on his shoulder, forcing herself to keep her eyes open so she didn't drift back to sleep. "May the waters carry you home swiftly and safely. If you wake Sasha, I'm sure she would bless your ships—"

Laughing, Finn kissed the top of Bex's head. "She's already down on the shore. Like I said, dear sister: it may be bright, but it's not early. If you don't rise soon, you'll be heading directly from the morning meal towards the midday one."

"Shit." Bex rubbed at her face and shoved the covers down to her knees. Warmth was her weakness; if she caught a chill, she would be more inspired to move, if only to warm up again. "Sorry. Let me dress and I'll be right down. Is everyone else awake?"

Finn nodded, smoothing back her hair or at least attempting to. Most days, nothing short of Sasha and Charlotte's combined efforts and magic could make it behave. "Don't worry. I don't think Bayley woke much before you did—"

As if conjured by her name, Bayley poked her head around the door. She was dressed for the day but still bleary-eyed. "Good. I thought you'd left without saying goodbye." Yawning, she joined them on the bed and embraced them both. "Have a good journey home, Finn. I'm not sure where Sasha is, but I'm sure she would bless—"

"That's what she's doing right now, as far as I know." Finn kissed Bayley's forehead and then Bex's before pulling himself away from them both so he could stand up. "I should go check and thank her, though, and say my goodbyes to Charlotte and Paige and Drew." Pausing in the doorway, he added, "Would you prefer I send Finlay to you or Sheamus? I could send both, but I'd like a steady hand on the scout ship to the Mediterranean as well." He met Bex's gaze evenly, giving away nothing of their chat the night before.

"We won't be needing negotiation skills or subtlety," Bex answered. "Finlay will have the finesse you'll need for the south. Sheamus works well with us."

"Sheamus it is, then." He gave both women a nod of farewell. "If all goes well, I'll be joining you in a matter of weeks. If not," Finn added with a wag of his finger, "you promised me the spring equinox, Bex. Don't forget."

Bex leaned against Bayley and stifled a yawn. "I doubt Sheamus will let me, if you have your way."

Bayley waited until she heard Finn's footsteps recede to turn to her friend. "What's going on with the spring equinox?"

It was Finn's story to tell, so Bex gave a light shrug as she crawled out of the bed. "Finn wants me to come home for a visit. Obviously everything depends on what happens with the Skull King. I'm hardly going to leave a battle just to sail home for a ritual."

"Home." Some of Bayley's previous softness filled her eyes as she sat on the bed and watched Bex pick what she wanted to wear. "You three are home to me. You still think of Ireland as home? It's been so long since you've been there. . . ."

Guilt stabbed through Becky's gut, lethal as any spear launched in battle and it felt all the worse because of who had wielded it. She could be at odds with Sasha or even Charlotte, but Bex rarely found herself angry with Bayley. "You can have more than one home, just as you can have more than one friend or one sister. There are four of us Horsewomen, right? We're stronger together. Having Ireland as a home and you three as a home makes me stronger, or at least I like to think so." She pulled off her nightgown and kicked her still-damp clothes from the night before out of Bayley's line of sight. "I wouldn't be staying long," she assured her friend. "Only a few days. You know what I'm like if I'm away from the sea for too long."

"I know." Bayley's voice was still soft, but her gaze grew brighter once Bex was dressed and ready to go. "We should talk about Paige before we sit with her and Drew again. I understand why Charlotte and Sasha aren't keen to trust her, but. . . ."

"But?" Bex prompted her with a nudge from her elbow. "Bayley, how many Horsewomen are there?"

Bayley frowned slightly as she focussed on going down the steep stone steps. "Many women can ride, obviously, but if you're talking about _us_ , there are four. You know that."

"And so do you. And each of us has a say. Each of us has strengths that bolster her sisters and weaknesses that her sisters bolster in return." Bex wrapped an arm around Bayley's shoulders and pulled her to the side before they entered the king's dining hall. "If you trust Paige, say so. If you don't, say that. Don't let Charlotte's opinion or Sasha's or mine sway you. We need your insights too. Quarters of the whole, remember?"

"I know." Bayley glanced out the nearest window, gaze caught by Finn's ships readying to set sail. "But when we meet with some foreign king or queen, they always want to talk to you or Charlotte or Sasha. They do me no disrespect," she added quickly, "but it's clear that they don't hold me in the same regard as you three."

Bex grimaced and pulled Bayley into a hug. She would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed the same slights, the way so many tended to ignore or at least underestimate Bayley, but it had never seemed like the most pressing matter at the time. That would have to change. "For my part in that, I'm sorry. I'll do my best to include you more."

Bayley started to shake her head. "I don't mind so much when it's a matter I'm not well versed in, but—" She stopped when she saw King Drew heading towards them. Bex knew he and Finn were some of the better ones, but they still could treat Bayley more like an equal. "Apologies for our lateness—"

The king shook his head. "No need. When we aren't at war, we don't keep rigid schedules here. Learning how to respond to and live in the moment is vital for any warrior. Finn and his people are about to set sail. I know you've said your goodbyes, but if you want to spin any magic before he leaves, this would be the time."

Bex started to reply before she caught herself, and then she subtly nudged Bayley in the ribs. "Oh. Yes, yes, that would be good. Bex?" When Bex nodded in agreement, King Drew started leading the way to the quickest set of stairs. "You could have let me start _after_ we ate," Bayley muttered.

"Weren't you listening to the good king?" Bex whispered back. Judging from the dimple that appeared on his face, she was sure he knew, but he kindly pretended to be oblivious. "Learning to respond to the moment is vital for any warrior."

"On second thought," Bayley retorted, a smile tugging at her lips, "maybe you _should_ go back to Ireland for a while. . . ."

The two Horsewomen quit bickering once they were outside, and it didn't take them long to follow Drew down the path to the shore. Sasha was knee-deep in the water, crooning to the gentle waves that lapped at Finn's ships, while Charlotte had climbed halfway up a mast, no doubt blessing the sail. Finn was talking to some of his men but excused himself once he saw the Scottish king and the other two Horsewomen. "You managed to pry her out of bed _and_ get her outside before midday? That's a feat worthy of the crown," he laughed, embracing Drew one final time.

"Is that so? I'll collect that crown the next time I'm in Ireland, then." Drew knew Finn was notorious for shunning the trappings of royalty and doing his best to blend in with his warriors. It caused some great amusements for the Irish army and many potential disasters for visiting dignitaries. "Are you sure you have enough provisions for the voyage? I can have my people bring down more."

Finn bowed his head in thanks. "We appreciate the offer, but we're well prepared. Thank you." He gestured at one of his captains, who in turn started barking orders. "We should get going. We won't have the luxury of an air-archer and a water-weaver for the entire journey." Mindful of Bex and Bayley, he added, "Not that your gifts wouldn't be equally welcome."

"Understood. Do you have a moment before you leave?" Bex asked, gesturing at a secluded spot further down the beach. It had been so long since she had seen him last and there was so much to say, but there was at least one thing she wanted to put in words before he left.

"Of course." Finn waved at the captain again before following Bex down the beach, stopping at a semi-circle of sharp rocks. "When next we meet, we'll have more time," he promised, reaching out and squeezing her hand. 

"I know." Bex didn't want to think in terms of _hope_ or _fates willing_. If she believed it was possible, she would do everything she could to make it happen. "First, I would appreciate it if you would consult Bayley more. I know you're good with her—the best, most likely—but she told me she often feels overlooked and I've seen it happen myself, so I want to do my part to make sure she's given her due."

"Of course. She's a strong fighter and skilled with strategy. Anyone who can't grasp that is a fool." Then Finn tilted his head. " _First_ implies at least a _second_ , Becca."

Bex shot him a look. "Names have power, _Fergal_ ," she retorted. "Don't diminish mine and I won't slander yours." Then she laughed at herself. "That probably wasn't the best reply, in light of what I want to ask, so if you want to refuse. . . ."

Finn wrapped his arms around her. " _Bex_ is a fine name too," he murmured, "but none is better than _sister_. You know you don't need to hold back with me."

Glancing over his shoulder at the others, Bex took a deep breath. "Your intended—you never told me her name. Was that on purpose?"

He looked startled at the question. "No. Of course not. It's . . . it's all so new to me, sister. Even this, being here instead of home, feels like agony, because it puts me that much further away from her." He allowed himself a besotted smile before adding, "Veronica. Her name is Veronica. But because she would most certainly adore you, she would let you call her Vero."

"It's a lovely name. Are her people comfortable with fire rituals?" Bex hesitated before asking further. Superstitions about magic ran deep throughout the continent—the accusations from the Skull King's victims were ready proof of that—but she didn't want to assume. As people travelled from land to land, culture to culture, knowledge was shared and minds were expanded. Her own perspective had been greatly improved from all her sea voyages and the quests with the Horsewomen, so it could be easy to forget that many people didn't have the good fortune to have such opportunities. 

Finn nodded. "We've spoken about rituals and magic—yours in particular, of course, as you're one of her favourite subjects to hear about," he added with a merry wink, "and the concepts intrigue her. She would love to see a demonstration of your magic at the spring equinox if you're willing." Then he gave her an imperious look that had nothing to do with being a king or even a fabled warrior, but solely an older brother. "What ritual do you have in mind?"

"Nothing untoward, of course. Just a simple blessing, hoping that all her journeys are swift and safe, that the flames she encounters treat her kindly. . . ." Bex also wanted to ensure that Finn's ardent devotion was shared, but she kept that to herself. She had no reason to doubt Veronica's feelings, so she wouldn't cast unnecessary doubt in Finn's mind, not when he already had so much to deal with.

Finn's answering smile made Bex feel horrible for even considering doubt, and he embraced her so tightly she felt her ribs protest. "Thank you, sister. That will put me at ease."

"So much the better. Be strong, be safe." Then she leaned in close and whispered their favourite Irish farewell before dropping down to her feet. "Now get going before Charlotte thinks your captain is conspiring to kill me with all those dagger glances he's shooting our way."

"You may be a walking flame, Becca," Finn replied, looping an arm around her waist as they walked back to his ships, "but the sea could ask for no better admirer."

Bex wasn't so sure, but she took the compliment and tucked it away, just like _Becca_ , just like the love and the camaraderie of her Horsewomen sisters. With the Skull King on the move, everything could change in an instant, and she needed her treasures, however tiny, to remind her what she was fighting for.


	6. Chapter 6

"Why did we even bring the horses?" Charlotte griped as she struggled to coax them onto the ship. After Finn's departure, the Four Horsewomen had spent most of the day strategizing—first amongst themselves, then with Drew alone while Paige dozed in the afternoon, and finally with both the rulers of Scotland and England. Their minds had been whirring, but a day of physical inactivity made them all rather cranky. Sasha had worn off her excess energy by swimming against the evening waves while Bex and Bayley sparred on the shore; Charlotte, on the other hand, had opted to find a willing partner among Drew's retinue to spend the night with. Bex was fairly certain she would have preferred the company of a particularly handsome English knight who had caught her eye, but she didn't want to give Paige any sort of hold over her.

"Because we weren't sure if we were going to have to visit each monarch separately," Sasha reminded her, steadying the waves around their ship. Bex hadn't needed much time to reassemble it, and fortifying it was almost habit now, as natural as breathing. "We could have just ridden to the border and asked the guards where the queen was in residence."

"Her spring palace is near the border, isn't it?" Bayley chimed in. The horses all liked her best, perhaps because of her affinity for the earth, and as soon as she hugged their neck or patted their back, they started to settle. "The winter one must be on the southern coast. Paige hates the cold almost as much as our Bex does."

"Not nearly." Currently having nothing to do but maintain the ship's form, Bex kept going over the ship's oars, making sure they were sea-worthy. She and Sasha had both been prepared to cast their magics to hasten their journey home, but Bayley and Charlotte insisted on rowing as much as they could to conserve their magical energy as much as possible. Though she didn't want to admit it, Bex knew they were right. The Skull King alone was too formidable to face without all the magic they could muster; if The Shield also wielded magic, as the Four Horsewomen suspected, even that might not be enough. "But of course she just tells me to build a fire. If it were only that easy."

And there was the great contradiction of the Four Horsewomen. Bex forged flames but couldn't be easily warmed by them. Sasha could weave with water, but was almost always parched. Though Bayley could command the earth, none of the crops on her family's farm ever prospered. And Charlotte called to air, but it kept the sweetest sounds from her, making all compliments sound flat and hollow. It was why Bex sought warmth and Sasha craved fruits, why Bayley felt like she could never go home and why Charlotte could receive all the accolades in the world and still feel empty and unworthy. As sisters, they did their best to help patch up each other's weaknesses, but such was the price of magic.

Bayley finally sighed and nudged Charlotte out of the way. "Go check the sail," she said. "I'll get the horses." Her own horse followed her gladly, settling into its favourite spot, and it didn't take much for the other three to follow, each rubbing their heads against Bayley's shoulder as they passed her. "Bex, Sasha? Go sit. Charlotte and I will row for a while."

Sasha aimed a sharp look her way. "We can row too. We'll get home faster if all of us are helping."

"You _are_ helping," Charlotte reminded her. "You too, Bex. You guys are working right now and you don't even feel it. We have to remember that—all of us. We're so used to being the only ones with magic. We don't know how to fight other magic users."

Bex shrugged, trailing her fingers over the handle of an oar. The physical exertion would be a gift, especially after spending most of yesterday at a table, debating strategies. "I want to row," she said, "at least for a while. It will help with momentum." Then she glanced over at Sasha. "Once we've got a good rhythm going, if it looks like it's safe to rely on the sails, we can do that for a while. As for fighting, we know they have at least one fire-forger, so. . . ."

Sasha shook her head adamantly, taking the oar across from Bex. King Drew and his knights had already said their farewells, so the shore was mercifully empty. "We can't all spar with you, Bex. That would just drain you, and then you won't be able to fight."

"And maybe their fire person can do different things," Bayley pointed out. She took a quick look around the ship, felt sure everything was in place, and gave the sand a gentle nudge to release the ship. Sasha used a hint of magic to get them out of the shallow water, but then all four women were at the oars, finding a rhythm easily. "Just because they use the same element doesn't mean they use it the same way. Look at all the destruction they caused. Do you really think you could do that, Bex?"

Bex didn't like to think about it at all. She could still smell char sometimes, still feel the eerie softness of the ashes thrust in her face. Sometimes she thought fire was the great equalizer; it was almost impossible to tell one burned thing from another once they had been reduced to ashes. "I like to think I couldn't," she said slowly. "But I'm well aware that's not the same thing."

To Bex's surprise, it was Sasha who gripped her knee and smiled. "You could. You're that strong. But you _wouldn't_ , and that's the part that matters. None of us would do that." They were hardly selfless and benevolent; while they did take on work that sought justice, they also made sure they were compensated. Over time, they had each gained their own small bits of territory, and that land had been neither earned nor kept through good deeds alone. It was a hard world, made all the worse by men like the Skull King, and it was a constant battle just not to fall to that level, flaunting power and either taking everything within reach or destroying it.

"They might not want to either." Bayley's voice was almost lost in the constant cranking of the oars. There was a natural wind on their side, so Charlotte didn't even need to sculpt the wind to their ends. "Maybe the Skull King is threatening their families or something."

"Does it matter? They've killed _hundreds_. At some point, _why_ they did it can't matter more than _what they did_." Charlotte's voice was uncharacteristically bitter. Bex almost expected such a scathing reply from Sasha, but Charlotte's words seemed to make her sombre. None of them were perfect; in the early days of developing their powers, they had all made mistakes, sometimes dangerous ones. But they had never intentionally killed innocent people. Each Horsewoman had their own personal line that they would not cross, and those lines all differed, but wanton murder was on the far side for all of them.

"I'm not excusing it," Bayley said firmly. "I was there, Charlotte, same as you. I saw the bodies. Who do you think buried them so quickly, and so deep?" 

Bex looked over and only caught a glimpse of how haunted Bayley's gaze was. It was something she hadn't considered; her own trauma had been overwhelming enough. But Bayley would have felt the blood seeping into the ground, each speck of soil that enveloped the corpses as they were committed to the earth. It was no wonder her normally joyous self hadn't truly resurfaced. "I doubt they can be turned," Bex said softly. "But maybe they could be convinced to stop. Maybe if they see us, see that there's another way. . . ."

"Keep that optimism over there," Sasha replied. "I don't need that nonsense in my head. For whatever reason, they chose to do those things. We can't lose sight of that. Because if they did it once, they'll do it again, and if they did it to hundreds of people, they won't hesitate to do it to four."

"But we won't just be four." Charlotte blew gently up towards the sail, making it puff out. "Drew is sending fighters and so is Finn, and Paige—"

"Without the benefit of a water-weaver or an air-archer," Sasha retorted. "At the whims of the sea and the skies. By the time they get to our lands— _if_ they get to our lands—there might not be anything left but blood and ashes."

The visual conjured too many uncomfortable memories and the women fell into a strained silence, rowing steadily and speaking only when they needed confirmation. When they were far enough out at sea, Sasha patted Bex's shoulder. "Come on. We should rest up. We'll probably need the shield-fire before nightfall, and the sea can turn on anyone in a moment."

Bex looked ahead to Charlotte and Bayley, who both nodded, adjusting their oars to compensate for the reduced effort. Sasha settled near the sacks of food and pulled a piece of fruit out of one, offering it to Bex first. "Go ahead," she said, sitting gingerly. Had they done the right thing, going to Scotland? Bex had thought it would be wise to gather as many allies as possible—and alert her friends in the Three Kingdoms to the impending peril—but perhaps she was only dooming more warriors to fall before the Skull King and condemning Bayley to endless days of mass burials.

Sasha reached over and squeezed her hand "You're nothing like them. Trust me." She gently pulled Bex's head into her lap and, when she was done eating her fruit, she started combing her fingers through the fire-forger's hair. "You're not a monster."

Bex wanted to take comfort in Sasha's words, but they had grown up with the same stories of heroes and monsters, and in the epic tales, it didn't seem to matter if the dragon only wanted to sleep in its cave or if the wolves only wanted to eat. Anything for the capacity for death was deemed a monster and slain shortly after, whether it had actually done anything monstrous or not.


	7. Chapter 7

Home was more about the people than the place for Bex. It was probably how she fared so well on the sea, coursing down the rivers into the mainland. As long as her Horsewomen sisters were with her, anything from a cave to the shade of a tree could be home. But even she had to admit that the sight of the northern shores was a relief—or perhaps it as more seeing them intact and not ablaze. King Drew was a wonderful host and Bex could see herself settling in his lands for a while before committing herself to Ireland once more, but this land was part of her now.

Her relief at their uneventful arrival was shared by the other Horsewomen, and upon seeing several of their more notable allies waving to them in greeting, they relaxed. When Sasha gave control of the ship back to the waves and Charlotte released the sail to the whims of the winds, their momentum slowed, but it gave them all a chance to compose themselves. Bex had already dropped the shield-fire before they came into view of the bay: it was one of their greatest defences and the fewer people who knew about it, the better. "I always think I'm never going to miss this," Sasha marvelled, sitting up by the figurehead. "And I'm wrong every single time."

Bayley settled beside her, resting her head on Sasha's shoulder. "When . . . when we're done with all of this," she asked slowly, "do you think you'll stay here? Or will you go home?"

All four women fell into a sombre silence at the question. With the lives they led, the risks they took, they weren't likely to have long lives or happy endings. It was a truth they all acknowledged and lived, but that didn't necessarily make it any easier to bear. "Trying to get rid of me already?" Sasha's voice was teasing, but a hint of melancholy kept her smile small. "Where you go, I go."

Bayley's gaze dropped to her feet, dangling over the water. "I can't go home. You know that. I already cost my family everything—"

" _You_ need to know _this_ ," Sasha interjected, voice as honed as a sword and just as much of a weapon under her command. "You are not cursed. Look here." She motioned to the seaside town they used as their main base. "The fields here were bog and ruin before you came, and now there are farmers who sell their crops and their animals to all the lands that have names. That's because of you. Our food stays fresh and safe for weeks of journeying. That's because of you. I'm sorry you can't share that gift with your family, but don't you ever doubt that it _is_ a gift. Wherever you decide to spend your twilight, that land will be blessed." Then she hugged Bayley tightly, wiping tears from her friend's cheeks. "And I will be right there with you, with my little orchard full of all the fruits I love most, and those trees will love you like a mother."

Charlotte came up beside Bex and kissed the top of her head. "I guess that means you're stuck with me," she laughed, "unless we're all going to live in this lovely orchard together."

"We're drifting off course," Sasha said abruptly, hopping down and heading to the oars. Bex was fairly certain Sasha would rather sail the world with Nikki of the Cross than spend her twilight with Charlotte nearby. Bayley followed and the two women quickly corrected the ship's course, aiming it for the dock. As they got closer, Sasha groaned again. "Asuka? Already? You deal with her, Bex."

Leaning around the figurehead, Bex saw the sorceress waving almost as madly as Nikki of the Cross had upon their arrival in Scotland. Bex was never sure if the little dance Asuka did was based in ritual or simply a way to distract others, but it always made her smile. "Sasha, she's one of our best allies. She might know something about The Shield—"

"She _spat_ in my _face_." The slight had happened half a year ago, but Sasha wasn't quick to forget such things. It had all been a misunderstanding—mostly—and Asuka had made amends, but it hadn't done much to raise her in Sasha's estimation. "And that little apprentice of hers is always skulking about. I don't trust her."

Shaking her head, Bex prepared to hop of the edge of the ship. The sooner she got to Asuka, the less likely it was that the villagers would overwhelm her with questions and concerns. The Horsewomen had left a capable council behind to deal with the day-to-day affairs of the settlement, but most of the people considered a Horsewoman's word to carry more weight. "Asuka! Thank you for coming so quickly." She jumped down to the dock as soon as it was safe. "Where's Kairi?"

Asuka bowed deeply, and if a hint of mischief sparked in her eyes when she glanced over as Sasha, it was easy to overlook. They started walking before anyone could try to stop them. "Kairi is on her way. She was taking care of the final preparations back home." Then her eyes went wide. "When I got here, I spoke to the council. They said something about shields attacking?" Bex was by no means fluent in Asuka's language, but she was the Horsewoman who knew it best; when she wasn't there to translate, misunderstandings could happen often and she was just grateful that none of them had turned fatal.

"It's a group called The Shield," Bex explained. "Have you heard anything about them? They seem to be aligned with the Skull King."

Asuka spat at the mention of the tyrant king and Bex was quietly relieved that it wasn't green that splattered onto the planks but normal white froth. She might have known Asuka better than the others, but she still didn't understand the entirety of her magic. "Skull King," she swore, disgust twisting her lips. "He thinks he can just go here and there, taking what he likes, taking _who_ he likes. He even tried to take Io! _Io!_!" She shook her head sharply. "Luckily Io evaded him, but now she's taking refuge in the mountains of the winds. If we need her, though, she will come help, especially if it means defeating that tyrant."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Bex replied. "Io needs time to recover." She also didn't want to have to put any more magic users in the Skull King's path than absolutely necessary. He clearly knew about fire-forgers, but if they could keep some of the other elements a secret from him, perhaps they would have an advantage. "We thought The Shield was an elite army, but Queen Paige—" Bex paused while Asuka made a retching sound not that different than her reaction to the Skull King. "I know you two are . . . no longer allies," she added delicately, "but she seemed to think that The Shield was only three men. Two, now."

Raising an eyebrow, Asuka made a gesture that was easy to interpret. "Paige is crazy. She hasn't seen the carnage, has she? I have. When I arrived, the council told me where the attacks were and I went by shadow." Then she shook her head sadly, almost missing the sharp turn Bex took. There weren't many private or peaceful places in the settlement, so Bex tended to take her sensitive conversations to a rocky part of the coastline, too rough for fishing and too uncomfortable for trysts. "So much devastation. So many dead. That can't be the work of just two men," Asuka insisted. "Not even three or four—with the tyrant—or ten."

Bex leaned up against one of the larger rocks, shutting her eyes. None of it made sense. There were so many conflicting reports, so many pieces that didn't fit together—but she knew life was often that way. She shouldn't be able to hold the parts of a ship together for days at sea. Bayley shouldn't be able to make an entire region of crops thrive. Their magic wrought what seemed like miracles every day, and they came to take it for granted. What if someone took that same magic, that same strength, and made it bitter and twisted and cruel? Rather than keep hearths burning steadily through a storm, they would burn people; instead of helping crops grow, they would hold villages hostage by making the crops wither. Air would choke rather than clarify; water would poison rather than purify. It took so little to turn a blessing to a curse, a gift into a weapon. Men like the Skull King saw life as nothing but one long battle, so naturally he would seek the tools that would bring about his victory.

"Bex?" Asuka's voice turned soft. "I heard a bit of what was said about you. What was done." She reached up and patted Bex's cheek in an oddly maternal way. "They were wrong. You would never do such a thing." As if she could see the ashes that had eclipsed her face, Asuka made a sweeping motion across Bex's cheekbones. "That is why the Skull King hates you. He hates whatever he cannot make his, because he finds hate more comfortable than fear."

"I think there's more to fear from someone who can burn down entire villages than from someone who won't," Bex replied, her laugh dry and nervous. There was strength in resistance, she knew, in restraint and moderation. When it came to that versus brute strength, though, the eventual victor was obvious. 

Asuka shook her head vehemently. "Never underestimate the quiet and the shadows. If all they know is violence and destruction, that can be used against them. It's a weakness, like any other habit." Her mouth quirked in a smile. "You know their instincts won't be to negotiate or assess. You know to look for the attack."

"If the Skull King is giving the orders," Bex replied, "it's his instincts we have to worry about, no one else's." But she was absorbing Asuka's wisdom intently. If The Shield's instincts weren't the same as the Skull King's, there would be a brief moment where they might pause—even resist or rebel. It would only be a moment, but the Four Horsewomen had worked with less and emerged triumphant. She doubted it would be that easy, but all they truly needed was a chance. Any hole could be widened; any crack could spread. With a sigh, she glanced back towards the village. "I shouldn't leave them to deal with all the concerns on their own. I should get back."

Nodding, Asuka gripped Bex's hand. "Your flame is stronger than before." With her free hand, she tugged one of Bex's curls. "It makes your hair even brighter. I think it's a sign."

Bex just smiled. All magic had costs and consequences, some major and others less so. One of the minor quirks of her fire-forging was that it turned her hair the colour of flames. Even if she didn't use magic for days, the red and orange never truly left her hair anymore. With casting two shield-fires in a matter of days, her hair was probably painfully bright; she had been so worried about defeating the Skull King that she hadn't paid it much attention, and none of her Horsewomen sisters had mentioned anything amiss. Of course, Asuka was prone to seeing signs in seemingly random things and thanks to her magic, her predictions were often correct. "A good one, I hope. I'll find you after all the questions are answered," she promised as they parted ways on the shore.

By the time Bex made it to the hall, the other Horsewomen were already seated on the dais, fielding frantic questions and concerns, and she did her best to take her seat without calling attention to herself. Charlotte shot her a questioning look and Bex just shook her head. Talking with Asuka was never a waste of time—her vast experience and keen mind gave her an almost eerie amount of wisdom—but nothing she had offered was immediately useful. "I apologize for my lateness," she said formally. From the looks on her sisters' faces, they would have all appreciated a chance to stretch their legs and relax, but it didn't seem likely. 

"We've heard of five other attacks," Sasha said quickly. "All involving fire." For a silent, bitter moment, Bex was grateful they had gone to Drew's lands; surely if she hadn't even been on the mainland, no one could blame her this time. "All with deaths."

A young man, trembling so violently his sword's sheath knocked against his knee, inched forward. "My village as well. My siblings and I only survived because we were out in the fields. I knew enough to fear the flames." He notably avoided Bex's gaze. "As soon as I saw the southern border of the village ablaze, we ran to the north for aid."

"You are welcome anywhere in our lands, wherever you feel safest," Bex assured him. "Did you see or hear anything aside from the fire?"

The young man frowned. "The . . . shape of men, perhaps, but we were far away." Two younger children clustered behind him, while a girl close to his age stepped up to his side, gripping his arm in support. "I expected loud battle cries or demands, but I heard only the fire and—"

"The screams." The girl at his side was clearly traumatized, but she forced her voice to be level. "We heard the crackling and . . . and the screams, and I thought I saw a man in the flames."

"There were two men." The small voice came from behind the young man's legs, but Bex couldn't see which child was speaking. "The flame man and a man by the trees."

The Four Horsewomen exchanged a quick glance. The testimony of children was to be honoured, of course, but they all knew that trauma led to twisted memories. What the orphans said fit Queen Paige's claims, however, so they couldn't dismiss their stories as fear-stained exaggerations. Bayley rekindled some of her former softness for the children, stepping off the dais and standing in front of them. "You were very brave to come all this way. We'll make sure you have food and shelter." Then she raised her voice. "Who has room for four?" she called out, glancing around the assembled group. There were plenty of new faces—probably others displaced by the Skull King—and the Horsewomen knew there would be many tough decisions ahead.

"Our parents were farmers," the young man added. "Alva and I are hard workers and learn quickly. We will happily earn our keep. . . ."

Bayley glanced back at her three sisters, dark eyes glistening with tears. They were all thinking the same thing: no child should have to prove their worth to insure they had a home. There were plenty of murmurs, but a woman soon made her way up from the back of the hall. "My home isn't large," she admitted, "but it's been too quiet since my son died last year and my daughter moved to her husband's village. You're welcome to stay with me."

"Thank you." Bayley then murmured reassurances to the four orphans before the woman led them out of the hall. "Tell us the rest of the stories first, and then we will try to match up those who need homes with those who have space to spare."

A few more tales of destruction and despair trickled in, giving Bex a fair idea of what she had missed while talking with Asuka. The villages differed, as did the ages of the victims, but the key elements remained the same: a sudden attack, deadly flames, and two mysterious men. "So the Skull King doesn't even have the balls to be present?" Charlotte muttered when the meeting began to disperse, the newly homeless following those who had offered shelter. "Queen Stephanie has truly changed him. My father knew him before. He said he had the makings of a good man."

"The best ingredients in the world won't make a good meal if you don't have a good cook to use them properly," Sasha replied. "As much as I hate to say it, a lot of these account match up with Paige's claims. I didn't think only two people would be capable of all . . . this." She gestured at the aftermath in front of them: the bleak faces of the people leaving the hall, the footprints on the floor stained with soot and blood. "What good is all that land if he's just going to burn it? Won't it take years for it to be viable again?" She looked to Bex for confirmation.

Normally Bex liked her powers. She didn't think she had the grace to use air, the rhythm required for water, or the steadiness needed for earth. Now that she was seeing what flames did at their worst, she felt ashamed. It was little wonder so many people looked upon magic users with fear. "Without an earth-etcher, definitely. Even with one, it depends on how deep the damage goes."

"He doesn't care." Any tenderness Bayley had shown to the orphans was gone, hardened into anger. "He might not even want it. He just doesn't want anyone else to have it either."

"We should head south," Bex said, just noticing that a cup of mead had been left by her seat. She took a long sip and let its rich flavour linger on her tongue. She doubted the coming days would hold much in the way of sweetness or quiet or peace, or any of the good, simple things she took for granted. "Asuka's here; she'll help guard the village. Maybe we can stop The Shield before they advance too far. . . ."

"Bex, Drew's sending men. So is Finn. Paige probably is as well." Charlotte spread her arms wide. "If we just wait a few more days, we'll have more than enough warriors. We can station some here and within neighbouring villages for protection, and take others with us—"

"Warriors," Bex echoed. "People like the ones who just left this hall. Ones with no defences against the flames but us. _Me_. If we go now, just us—magic against magic—perhaps no one else will be hurt. No more orphans," she continued, glancing at Bayley. "No more displaced. No warriors to bury. Wouldn't that be better?"

Sasha reared back in her chair. "No! How would that possibly be better? We are the best chance for all these people!" She stood abruptly and pointed at the door. "It's because of us that they've lived in peace for so long. If we rush down there and get injured or killed, what happens to them then? The Skull King will just sweep in here too, take what he wants and burn the rest, and then set sail for Scotland, England, Ireland—for our friends."

It didn't go unnoticed that Sasha said Ireland last and emphasized _friends_ , but Bex didn't rise to the bait. "Finn knows better than most the dangers of being my ally. Drew has no illusions about us, nor does Paige. They know magic comes at a heavy cost, both for its users and its allies. And they chose to bear that cost. All of these people under our protection don't know all the risks; we've only ever shown them the rewards, and it wouldn't be fair to give that lesson now, when they've already lost so much."

"Nothing about this is fair! Nothing about Bayley's farm or my father or your battle wound was fair! Hell, nothing about Charlotte's family is fair either." Charlotte looked like she was ready to make a rebuttal until she listened to the end of Sasha's tirade. "And we have all adapted and made ourselves stronger for it."

Bex gripped the arm of her chair, ready to launch herself up, but was stopped by something she heard—or, rather, didn't hear. Bayley was so silent that for a moment, Bex thought she had grown tired of the bickering and slipped out of the hall, but she was watching her three sisters intently, face taut with anxiety. "Bayley, what do you think? Should we confront the Skull King on our own, or wait for the contingents from the Three Kingdoms?"

Bayley initially blanched under the sudden onslaught of attention, but she steeled her spine and held her head high. "I see the value in waiting for reinforcements," she began slowly, "but look how much more damage has already been wreaked since we've been gone. Drew's ships and Finn's and Paige's don't have the advantages of magic; they'll be another week or more. Who knows what could happen in that time?" She twisted her hands together and sighed. "Our own shores could be ablaze by then."

Sasha let out a string of curses that were almost musical in their totality. "And if we go off and die, what then? Who protects those orphans you just found a home for? Who nurtures the fields? Who warms the hearths and fills the sails and keeps the rivers clean? Part of our responsibility to them is a responsibility to _ourselves_."

She shrunk back a bit, but otherwise Bayley held firm. "I'm not saying we should all go. But I will. I want to see the land for myself, see how bad it is. Maybe I can help restore it."

"Where you go, I go, remember?" Sasha huffed out a breath and stood, hugging Bayley fiercely. "It's not safe for you to go alone. And water's always useful. The villages here should have enough for a while, even with all the newcomers."

"And what?" Charlotte crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Bex and I _aren't_ useful?"

"I didn't mean it like that." A blush darkened Bayley's cheeks and she squeezed Sasha's hand for support. "You could conjure winds to blow the smoke away, but. . . ." 

Bex had an inkling of what Bayley was going to say just by the way she wouldn't meet her gaze. "But I shouldn't go because a fire-forger won't be welcomed by the villagers, is that it? Even though I might be able to dampen the flames or trace them back to their maker or—"

"Bex, that's not what I meant!" Bayley pulled free of Sasha's hand and went to hug Bex reflexively; she may have hardened to the world, but amongst her sisters a hug was the still the quickest way to put her at ease. "I just meant that we already suspect the Skull King has one fire-forger—"

The clutch of cold down Bex's spine had nothing to do with the brisk wind off the bay, and even though Bayley was stammering an apology, she stepped back. "And if he can sway one," she said curtly, "it wouldn't take much for him to turn another, right?"

Bayley started to reach for her again, but stopped herself at the last minute. "That's not what I meant," she said meekly. "I'm sorry, Bex. I just—"

But Bex just shook her head, willing her tears of frustration to wait until she was outside, far away from her Horsewomen sisters and the villagers and anything but the rocks and the sea, who never bothered with things like forgiveness and feelings. "Clearly, whatever I say isn't going to make any difference, so I won't waste my breath here." With that, she stormed out of the hall, grateful that the crowds had mostly dispersed and those who saw her could tell that she wasn't in the mood to be disturbed. Her first instinct was to go back to where she had spoken with Asuka, but her sisters knew about that place as well.

That didn't leave her many options, but there was one, a hole in the cliff barely visible from the beach. It was too small for Charlotte to fit into, and neither Sasha nor Bayley seemed inclined to venture up that high. Bex wasn't fond of the climb herself, but it was worth the solitude. She was panting by the time she hauled herself into the small cave and she stretched out flat, gazing out at the sea. Now that Sasha wasn't tending to the waves and Charlotte wasn't sculpting the winds, the natural weather was in full force—or was it? If there was another fire-forger so close, it wouldn't be unreasonable to imagine another air-archer or water-weaver as well. Was the other man in all the tales one of those? Or maybe he was a fire-forger too, working from the edges while the stronger one held the centre.

As her breathing evened out, Bex started to plan. Maybe her sisters wanted to investigate the damage done to the south; maybe they wanted to wait. It didn't mean Bex had to follow suit. Come morning, after a long rest in a bed she hadn't used in weeks, she would make her own decision—alone, if she had to. After so many years of having the Horsewomen at her side, it would feel strange to set out on her own, but she couldn't let some tyrant and his pet keep making her feel ashamed every time she conjured up a spark. She had enough guilt of her own to bear; she couldn't carry anyone else's.


	8. Chapter 8

"I still think we should wait for Drew's ships to arrive." Charlotte stood stubbornly by her horse, refusing to tame the tempestuous winds even though they were wreaking more havoc with her hair than anyone else's. Bex had her hair back in battle braids, Sasha's was slick with water, and Bayley's was too short to mess up much. "And Finn's for that matter."

Already astride her horse, Bex snorted. "You mean you think _I_ should wait. You're welcome to stay if you want to, Charlotte. You all are." Bex had hoped some solitude by the sea and sleeping in her own bed would improve her spirits, but it only seemed to make the wound burrow deeper. "I'm going."

Bayley strode up to Bex's horse and glared up at her. "Finn will be pissed at you if you go and you know it. Especially if you go alone."

Bex thought back, trying to remember if she had made any such promises to Finn. In the end, she shrugged off the concern. "It won't be the first time," she said simply, "and it won't be the last." Then she leaned forward and stroked her horse's neck. "As I said, I'm going. Whether any of you are is up to you. But I'm going _now_ so I have the sun on my side."

Sasha hesitated just as she was about to mount her horse. She and Bex might be water and fire—instinctively at odds with each other—but that also seemed to give them a deeper kinship. "Do you really trust our lands to Asuka and Natalya? Most of the villagers can't understand Asuka, and Natalya doesn't exactly have a ruthless streak."

"That just means we don't have to worry about her trying to usurp us then, doesn't it?" Bex's horse started to fidget and she whispered some Irish in its ear to help calm it down. "And Asuka's good at getting her meaning known. Between her magic and Natalya's knowledge of the lands, I think they're the best people to leave in charge." Meeting Sasha's gaze directly, she added, "If you want to stay, you're welcome to. Whoever's going needs to be focussed and united, whether that's two of us or all four or if I'm going alone. If we show the Skull King the slightest weakness, he will tear it open."

Sighing, Bayley reached up and patted Bex's knee. "I don't know how else to apologize. You know I trust you. I just worry that the Skull King has . . . something, some magic, that lets him control the other fire-forger, and I know you would never want to do those things. But if he ever found a way to control you—"

"He won't." Bex had no way of knowing that. No one did. So little was known about elemental magic, partly because it was rare but mostly because it was still feared in many areas. Perhaps for each elemental born, there was a counterbalance, someone who could thwart or control them. She could only hope her will was stronger than that of the man the Skull King was using to burn it all down. 

To Bex's surprise, it was Charlotte who got on her horse first. "You know you're not going alone, Bex. But if you're going to stew in your anger for the whole ride, then at least ride in front so your Irish curses don't burn my ears from the inside out."

It made Bex chuckle even though she was doing her best to be resolute and distant. All three of her Horsewomen sisters had approached her privately, apologizing in their own ways, and even Bex had to admit they all had a point. Having her weaknesses voiced by the people she loved most still hurt, though, the ache spreading like a bruise. It would dissipate in time, but for the time being it was still tender. "Good thing no one's much interested in your ears then, isn't it?" Then she reached down and ruffled Bayley's hair. "Come on. None of us can control the sun, so if we want the advantage of light, we need to go."

Sasha had barely settled on her horse when she spat out a curse. "If I see so much as a speak of green on her lips," she muttered, nudging her horse to the edge of the group.

Bex turned to see Asuka approaching; in the distance, by the meeting hall, Natalya waved wildly, putting Bex in mind of Nikki of the Cross. Once Asuka had reached the horses, she smiled and held something out to Bex. "For luck," she said, "and protection."

It looked like a simple bracelet made of rope, but Bex knew there was always more to Asuka's gifts than met the eye. She held out her hand dutifully and let Asuka tie it in place. The sorceress murmured a short chant as she did so, then moved on to perform the same rite with Charlotte and Bayley and, after a bit of coaxing, Sasha. "Thank you," Sasha said stiffly, giving the rope bracelet a small tug as if she expected it to sink into her skin and sever her hand.

Bowing, Asuka stepped back. "Tyrants crave power, but they fear it in others, especially if they can't control it," she said. "He may have people on his side with great power, but they are not united. If you remain connected, you will win."

"Let's hope so." Charlotte urged her horse forward. "We'll be heading down the main road for the most part. If anything happens, send someone down that path. If we're not back before Drew's knights or Finn's warriors arrive," she added, voice sombre, "let them know where we were headed."

Asuka nodded and bowed again, striding back to the hall to wave alongside Natalya. Some of the villagers came out as well, and Bayley couldn't help but smile when she saw the young man from the hall meeting, looking flushed from work but happy. "I'm still not sure this is right," Bayley said, "but at least we're together. I wouldn't have felt right if some of us went and others stayed behind."

"Like Asuka said, unity's our best weapon. It always has been." It had been true of the Four Horsewomen from the very start. Back when people said that such a small crew could never do a large raid or that a group made only of women could never succeed, it was their shared desire to prevail that got them through. Bex almost wondered if it was its own sort of magic, small pieces of each of them combined to a luminous whole that no one else could match. She forced herself to sit tall as she added, "Whoever the Skull King's fire-forger is, he's either there because he's forced to be or because he was promised riches. I doubt they're on equal footing."

"And where there's no equality," Sasha continued, "there's no unity." It was the defining premise of their sisterhood and even though it wavered on occasion, it remained a strong core.

Bex took the reminder to heart and turned to Bayley. The two of them had ended up in the front, the horses fast enough that even at a walk, their settlement was a mere blur in the distance. "Do you think we should head to some destroyed areas first, or go to an unharmed village and ask about anything they've seen and heard?"

Bayley seemed surprised to be asked first, especially given what she had said to Bex the day before. "Leaving the wreckage until the end could be overwhelming," she began, "but our priority should always be the living." She turned as much as she could to look at Sasha without disturbing her horse. "What do you think?"

"I agree. Ashes will still be waiting for us. If we get any information we can use, that's far more valuable." Shutting her eyes out of respect, Sasha added, "The dead will understand if they aren't tended to right away. They would rather we help their living kin first."

"That's how we help everyone." Charlotte was the tallest of them, and her horse was likewise the tallest of the four, so she was the first to see the village on the left. "I don't see any smoke, so—"

Bex cleared her throat and spoke before any of her sisters could stumble over their words. "I'll stay on the path. Why don't two of you go and ask? If the villagers don't seem . . . hostile, one of you can come back and I'll join you. I won't be any help if people won't talk in my presence."

"Sasha, Charlotte, why don't you two go? If the Skull King and his men come, you should be able to hold them off with your powers long enough. Bex and I will keep an eye on the paths." Bayley gestured to the widening network of roads and trails spreading out before them. With the comfortable peace the Four Horsewomen had secured, more villages were being established and there were new trade routes developing all the time.

Bex waited until Charlotte and Sasha had started on their way to lead her horse to the mouth of another trail. She and Bayley would have to stay within sight in case their Horsewomen sisters needed their help, but they could still look for signs of travel and trespass while they waited; any fire-forger that brutal probably wouldn't even bother to wipe the ash from his hands before he left. "You could have gone," she said softly, knowing Bayley would hear. She and Bayley were often the overlooked ones, the forgotten, and it meant they had both become excellent at blending in and seeing and hearing things that were meant to be private. "I wouldn't ride off on all of you."

"I know." Bayley's smile collapsed quickly. "I keep forgetting how this must affect you. All the deaths were hard, but the burials. . . ." She fought a shiver, and even at a distance, Bex could see the tears start to gather in her eyes. "I could feel it in my bones. I didn't want to say anything, because I figured we were all suffering. Charlotte had the smoke in the air. Sasha could feel the water washing the corpses. I felt the grave soil and the digging and. . . ." She stopped herself abruptly, holding a hand to her mouth like she might vomit. "But those were all after-effects. With the fires, you . . . you probably felt—"

"It wasn't that bad," Bex said quickly, focussing her gaze on the village Charlotte and Sasha had gone to visit. They were close enough to the settlement now that Bex could barely see them, and she rubbed the rope bracelet from Asuka, hoping her sisters received a warm welcome. "I wasn't there when it happened, so I only felt the echoes." She pursed her lips, fighting back nausea of her own. The blessing of fire was that if it was hot enough you felt very little, or nothing at all; when it wasn't, however, the agony was immense and unyielding. There were many of the deaths—probably the first ones, she assumed, the people taken unawares—that Bex barely felt; they were more like ghosts, holding the place of the pain. It was the second wave that was the worst, the ones who would have seen the flames and tried to run but were prevented somehow. Something in the thought gave her pause. Fear was a powerful force, perhaps second only to love, so if all the victims were terrified, why had so few gotten free? The villages weren't surrounded by walls or fortified fences; the way should have been clear. Or had it been? "Bayley, why didn't they run?" she asked slowly. "If your home was on fire, wouldn't you try to run?"

Bayley gave her a strange look, but turned her horse so they were both looking down the path Charlotte and Sasha had taken. "Panic, maybe? The smoke could have overwhelmed them, addled their minds. From . . . from where the bodies were found, it looked like some of them tried to flee."

"But you would think more would make it out. So many of those villages are relatively new, full of young families. Strong men, strong women, healthy children. Why do so few ever escape?" Even as the thought twisted her gut, Bex wished she had spoken more with some of the survivors. Making them relive the pain would be horrible, but the smallest memory or strange observation could hold the key to understanding how the Skull King orchestrated and executed his attacks. "There are no walls to climb, no fences. . . ."

"None that we can _see_." Bayley paled as her thoughts turned grim. "But if the Skull King also had an air-archer, he could spin walls that no one would see. He could suffocate them with smoke."

If the Skull King had one elemental in his employ, it wasn't a stretch to assume he had two. "Should we go warn Charlotte?" Bex cursed herself for not thinking of all the possibilities. She had been so busy sulking that she failed to see the dangers that could be shadowing her sisters. "The Skull King knew her father once. He could use that to entrap her."

They heard the thunder of hooves before Charlotte's voice, their names lost to the wind, and Charlotte wisely stopped yelling, saving her breath until she was closer. "Bex, Bayley—we're welcome. There are survivors sheltering here who are willing to share their stories, and they want to speak to all of us." Then she looked pointedly at Bex, gaze soft. "They know it wasn't you. Any fear and anger they harbour is directed at the Skull King."

Bex looked to Bayley and nodded, letting her two sisters go first. It was easy to say that their duty was to the living, but that also meant looking them in the eye, listening to their suffering. At least with the dead, all they had to do was honour their memories and their remains. Strangely, that seemed somehow easier, though Bex didn't relish seeing another fire-ravaged settlement any time soon. Perhaps with the survivors' insights, there wouldn't be many more to bear.


	9. Chapter 9

"If all the visits take this long," Sasha remarked, stretching out on her borrowed bed, "we won't have to worry about Drew's knights not catching up with us. Hell, Paige herself will probably get here by then."

Bayley was sprawled beside her, exhausted and almost numb. Listening to so many stories of people who had crept back to their burned-out homes, risking their own lives just to see if enough remained of their loved ones to give them a proper burial, had eaten away at her. "I can't listen to them all," she whispered. The village had offered up its hall for the Horsewomen to sleep in, but the darkness made the huge space seem like a cozy cave. "I know that sounds horrible, but I can't bear it."

Sasha crawled over and hugged her tightly. "No one should have to: not them, not us. And so many of the stories are the same. They all deserve to be heard, but we only have so much time. Once we force the Skull King back, then we can truly honour all the dead."

Charlotte sighed from her spot at the window. She didn't like changing the winds unless necessary, preferring nature to take its course, but she thought the people in the village—the locals and refugees alike—deserved a night without the wind howling at the corners of their homes. The only wind outside was a calm one, sweeping through the fields like a breath blown across a lover's neck. "This is why I wanted to wait. This is what's going to be too hard for us. _This_. We know how to fight. We even know when to retreat." At an arched eyebrow from Bex, she added, "Usually. But all this trauma—we're not used to it. We don't cause this sort of devastation. We raid. We fight for land. But we've never taken more than we needed."

"Maybe we should have," Sasha mused, staring up at the ceiling. "Maybe if we had pushed harder, pushed farther, the Skull King would have thought it wasn't worth the effort to test the north. Instead he saw a bunch of scattered villages and leaders who are at sea half the time, and he knew he would have no problem taking whatever he wanted."

"Whatever _Stephanie_ wanted, more likely." Charlotte snorted softly as she went to her bed and slid under the blankets. "I know a thing or two about queens, and she's no queen. All the riches in the world mean nothing. Queens are supposed to guide, to lead, to bring their people forward. Stephanie only cares about getting _more_."

Bex was the only one still sitting up, gazing around the hall at the shields of the former warriors who now lived in and farmed for the village. Her earlier discussion with Bayley still haunted her. "Maybe we're doing exactly what Stephanie wants. Or the Skull King. Perhaps both. If they want elementals, maybe that's what they're looking for. Burning down villages in hopes that some secret fire-forger will try to put out the flames. Choking people with smoke so that some brave air-archer will step to the fore and clear their lungs. Maybe they're trying to root out more of our kind."

"Or maybe they're just coming for the four of us," Bayley added grimly. "And here we are, riding right toward them."

Sasha shook her head adamantly. Most of the green had faded from her hair, leaving it only blue, and it almost blended completely with the darkness. "That doesn't make sense. If the Skull King wanted us, he has to know we're in the far north. Attacking small villages here and there does nothing unless he's trying to find other new elementals, like Bex suggested. He has to know we can't come riding to the aid of every beleaguered village."

"And none of the survivors have mentioned any requests, any demands," Charlotte pointed out. "If he really wanted us—or other elementals—wouldn't it make sense to ask?" Lowering her voice, she added, "I know we've done a lot for all of these villages, but you can't tell me that given the choice between their life and exposing us, _someone_ wouldn't have given in and told the Skull King where we were and what we can do."

All four women went silent. When they offered help, it was just that: help. They would accept meals and a place to sleep, but little else. They wanted people to be able to fend for themselves, defend themselves, and live free. That didn't make them universally admired, though. Some of the more superstitious people feared their powers. Others considered them tyrants in the making, just biding their time until they started making demands. Many had started taking them and their magic for granted. As nice as it would be to assume they commanded loyalty and respect, the Four Horsewomen knew that wasn't necessarily the case, especially in the outer regions they weren't able to visit as often as they would like. "Maybe they're coming for us," Bayley repeated bleakly, "and they want to turn everyone else against us. Use The Shield as some cautionary tale: _Look what the Horsewomen will do when you displease them._ Then he wouldn't even have to face us. Our own people would turn on us and we'd be forced to take to the sea. Then the Skull King could just step in and take everything without being challenged."

A sharp knock on the door rang out and the women all fell quiet again. Since Bex was already up, she went and greeted a young woman bearing a tray. "Water and mead for the night, as well as some food if you find yourselves hungry. It's only the leftovers," she said apologetically, "but it's all hearty."

"This is all very generous. Thank you." Bex smiled and took the large tray from the girl, setting it on the nearest table before shutting the door again. "That feels too elaborate. The Skull King believes in economy of motion. He's not going to waste energy if he doesn't have to. He could make his way to the northern coast by force alone; there has to be some reason behind the magic."

Charlotte came over to the table and poured herself some mead. "Maybe he's testing the limits of his elementals. Seeing how much they can do and how often. That isn't the kind of thing you want to learn in the midst of battle. You want to know as much as you can about your weapons beforehand."

"Asuka had mentioned something about him trying to take Io," Bex shared. "If he's making another eastern push, Charlotte could be right: he could be testing his men to see how they'll fare. Of course, he could be draining them in the process." The Four Horsewomen all knew to use their powers sparingly, but on the occasions when they couldn't, they certainly paid for it later. If maintaining the shield-fire for days could leave Bex exhausted, she hated to imagine what the Skull King's fire-forger must be feeling.

"He won't care." Giving up on sleep, Sasha sighed and stood, pouring two cups of water and handing one to Bayley. "He's not like us. He has no honour. When he breaks a sword, he doesn't get it repaired. He just commissions a new sword. These men will be no different. He'll use them up and then just go find more."

A collective chill ran through the women. They all knew elementals weren't exactly easy to find. If the Skull King wore his out, he could by seeking them out as replacements. "Maybe we should head back," Bayley suggested. "If we leave with the sun, we'll definitely get back before any of Drew or Finn's ships arrive. We could even head west and visit one of the villages there on our way, listen to a few more stories before going home. . . ."

Bex nibbled on a hunk of bread. She knew the reason for Bayley's reluctance and she shared it, but this wasn't a problem they could run away from. "I think we need to see a site for ourselves—a more recent site," she added, before Bayley could protest. "That fire-forger is using so much power, and he's doing it so often. He has to be leaving something behind, some sort of sign. You can't use that much magic and not leave some trace behind. Plus there has to be something keeping more people from escaping. If we can figure out what that is, maybe we can figure out a way to stop it. The more pieces something has, the more ways there are to take it apart."

"That means there's more ways to take _us_ apart," Bayley pointed out. Her morose tone almost merged with the darkness in the hall completely. "And if we go alone—just the four of us—what do we do if he manages to break one of us? At least if we have Finn's warriors or Drew's knights. . . ."

"We need to discuss this," Charlotte agreed, draining the last of her mead. "But we need sleep _more_. We'll be useless to everyone if we don't rest. So clear your heads, go to sleep, and we'll figure things out in the morning. There should be an attack site within a day's ride, if we have the wind and earth doing our bidding for a while, so we have a few options." When Bex made no move to go to her bed, Charlotte took the bread from her hand, set it down, and pushed her gently to where Sasha and Bayley were curled up. "Can we just rest, please? Between the riding and the arguing and the villagers and the stories, my mind is a mess."

Reluctantly, Bex nodded. She would have felt better with some semblance of a plan in place before going to sleep, but talking in circles would help no one. "Okay. But we should get up early. Most of the Skull King's attacks seem to be in the afternoon at the earliest, so if he's dormant in the morning, we can use that to our advantage."

"Fair enough. Now _sleep_ ," Charlotte insisted. Bex had sat on her borrowed bed but not yet stretched out, and Charlotte pushed on her shoulders, urging her down. "We'll get this figured out, Bex. I promise."

Bex relented and stretched out, mostly so Charlotte didn't inadvertently injure her shoulder. Since she was usually cold, the others let her have more of the blankets, and Charlotte tucked them around Bex before lying down herself. All the exhaustion of the past few weeks spread through them quickly, and it didn't take the Four Horsewomen long to fall asleep, huddled together as much for protection as for warmth. It wasn't as good as their own beds at home or even the strangely comforting rocking motion of a ship at sea, but at least in sleep, they were united.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Burned corpse; someone gets burned in a fight. If you need more info, let me know.
> 
> I might need a bit of a posting break. This isn't a cheap ploy to get comments, I promise; the story is done. I just need to finish editing, and I thought my replacement printer ink would be here by now and it's not. Blame Amazon!

"For someone who's always cold," Charlotte remarked as Bex finished suiting up for their ride, "it's strange that you don't like the sun more."

"I like the sun just fine," Bex replied, squinting against its brightness. The extra layers she wore, borrowed from one of the villagers, added bulk to her frame and limited her range of motion a bit, but the added warmth was worth it. If they had been walking, she would have been fine within minutes, but riding a horse for hours on didn't do much to stir the blood. "Regrettably, the feeling is not mutual." The sun might have warmed her in a way that fires sadly could not, but it also burned her skin, making it crisp and redden painfully if she wasn't well covered. When they were travelling, Bayley would often enchant a mud mixture for her and help her slather it on her arms, neck, and face, but it dried out out her skin and always had to be washed off before they entered any village lest the dwellers think she was some sort of demonic creature.

"The village scouts say the best way there is just to follow the bend of the river for a few hours," Sasha reported as she and Bayley trotted up on their horses. Over time, the Horsewomen had found that if all four of them lingered, it was nearly impossible to get away from a village without being drawn into someone's request for help, so two of them would wait further out, ready to signal if the remaining two were taking longer than expected. "Then we need to look for an old stone bridge and that's where we'll want to cross over. Then there's a second smaller river, and we'll have to cross a wooden bridge to get to the village." After checking the ties on a bag of provisions behind her, Sasha added, "Everyone ready to go?"

The other three nodded. Each of them still had their own opinions about what was the best way to proceed, but they had agreed to go to a village further west that had taken in many refugees from the south. There they would listen to as many stories as they could bear and then decide whether they wanted to head back to their main settlement to regroup—hopefully arriving before Drew's knights and Finn's warriors so neither king would be upset—or if they should head south and see more of the desolation for themselves. When she looked south, Bex sometimes thought she could spy plumes of smoke, but she kept telling herself it was only her imagination. If the Skull King let the land burn too long, it would be useless to him as well.

Hours riding under the steady beat of the sun made Bex sweat, but it barely warmed her. Charlotte gathered her hair into a braid and conjured a gentle cool breeze for them as they rode. "Yes, I know this is a luxury, Sasha," she said curtly. "But if we pass out from the heat, we'll be of no good to anyone."

"I'm not complaining." She poured some water out of her leather bottle, sealed with both wax and magic, into her hand and made it into a mist to cool her face. "I think the bridge is close, though. We've been riding long enough, and I can feel a change in the flow."

"We're stopping for a break, right?" Long rides tended to lull Bayley into an almost-sleep, and Sasha flicked some water over at her to help her focus. "I know we don't have much time to spare, but I need to stretch and eat."

The Four Horsewomen had only intended to take a brief break, washing up and eating in the shade, but then Bayley started to doze and Sasha was drifting serenely in the river, listening to its currents, leaving Bex and Charlotte alone. "Do you ever wonder if this is because we've relied so much on our powers?" Bex asked. Over the trees on the southern side of the river, she could see dark clouds gathering. The thought of making a camp for the day and letting the storm pass was tempting, but she knew this was no ordinary journey. Wherever the Skull King turned his ambitions, people died; the longer he went unchecked and unchallenged, the more people would suffer. "I know we've tried to be responsible and fair, and we try to help others, but maybe our gifts aren't meant to be used this way. And now we have to fight the worst versions of ourselves, or at least of me—"

"Don't think such things." Charlotte held Bex close and rested her chin on the top of her head, knowing her friend would appreciate the warmth if not the embrace. "We don't squander our gifts. Look how many people we've helped and saved, how many villages we've helped come to be. Those are all good things. This isn't some sort of retribution from the gods. It's the other side of the coin. For all the good, there is also bad. For everyone who tries to help, someone will try to hurt. It's the way of nature, so why should it be any different that for every fire-forger like you, who uses your gift to protect and defend, there's one who uses his to plunder and destroy? It's balance."

"I'm not sure that's the word I would choose." As the dark cloud grew, spilling across the sky, Bex felt increasingly restless. "Wake up," she said, shaking Bayley's shoulder. "We need to get going." Then she went and swished her fingers in the river, knowing the ripples would reach Sasha. "Time to go."

Within minutes, they had packed up and were on their horses again, crossing the bridge and urging their horses into a run to make up some time. The further west they rode, the darker the sky became until it was almost like night. "I wasn't sleeping that long," Bayley insisted. "I know I wasn't."

"You weren't," Sasha assured her. "And I can't see any sign of the bridge they mentioned back in the village." The trees on the banks of the second river were taller, older, and closer together, which made it even more difficult to see through the woods, but they all trusted Sasha's instincts. After they rode a bit closer, both Sasha and her horse grew increasingly anxious. "Something isn't right. I want to go in the water—"

Charlotte glared up at the clouds, focussing on their darkness. "I can't move them. Whatever it is, it's not a regular storm."

Looking around, Bayley dismounted and knelt, touching the ground. "Something's wrong with the land too. It feels taut, like a bruise. We should leave the horses here and go in on foot. They might get spooked and hurt themselves. Some of those trees have really low branches." Then she patted her horse's flank and spoke in a low, even voice to reassure it. "Stay here. You'll be okay."

The other Horsewomen followed suit, taking their swords as they dismounted and soothing their horses. After Bayley cast a wide circle of protection around the four horses, giving them room to move while they waited, the women headed for the trees. Bex's gaze was continually drawn to the sky, and it wasn't until she snorted in frustration that she noticed something else. "Smoke. It's _smoke_. How did I not smell it before?"

"It must be part of his magic." Bayley led the way, coaxing trees to move their rougher branches aside to make way for the Horsewomen. "Maybe he can mask it somehow. I can barely smell it, and I'm only trying to because you mentioned it."

Bex, third in line after Charlotte, kept breathing deeply, trying to taste something in the smoke, hear something in the subtle static of it the others had never been able to detect. "For those kind of clouds," she muttered, "it has to be big and it has to be close. Be careful."

Barely suppressing a cough, Sasha brought up the rear. "The water feels so thick. . . ."

"Probably because of the smoke." Without turning, Bex reached back with her hand and felt a spark of relief when Sasha squeezed it. The acrid stench of smoke was undeniable now, and the closer they got to the water, the more devastation they were able to see. Flames, tall and almost jagged, licked at the sky beyond the river and the trees on the other side of the bank. Bex braced herself for the screams, the piercing shrieks of the trapped and the dying, but all she could hear was the roar of the fires. "Is that a body?" she asked, hope sinking like a stone in her gut. The lump was mostly blackened, but beneath there were some colours one simply didn't find in the forest.

Charlotte gently pushed past Bayley to investigate, kneeling down and touching the charred mass gingerly. "Yes. I think the bridge was here." She pointed to some broken stumps of wood by the river, capped with ash. "This person must have been trying to get to the river, trying to. . . ."

"To put themselves out." Bex wrapped her arms around herself. She knew what flames felt like. When she was younger and learning how to use her magic, she would wrap fire around her hand, marvelling at how the skin didn't burn. Then as she grew bolder and better with her powers, she would twist the fire around her arms or her legs, eventually becoming skilled enough to surround herself entirely in fire without being burned. To be on the inside of the flames, to feel the fire like a cocoon that would transform her, was the closest thing she had ever felt to true peace. For this poor soul, however, it would have been unfathomable agony. She forced herself to look at the body—even if it was a corpse now, she didn't want to think of it that way—as she knelt beside it and touched it gently. "She . . . hasn't been dead long," she said at last. "It wasn't an easy passing."

"I should hope not." The words, buoyed by cruel laughter, made the women turn as one to the other side of the river. A lone man stood on the edge of the bank, but two large silhouettes were in the background, not quite blending in with the trees and the smoky haze. "The point is for them to suffer. That's the only way these peons seem to learn."

"The Skull King," Charlotte said grimly, gently nudging Bex back. "Stephanie must truly be an abomination of a queen if you need land this far north just to get away from her." Behind her back she made a shooing motion, but the others stayed rooted to the spot. "Surely the weather in the Mediterranean is more to your liking."

"Charlotte." The Skull King took a step closer, making sure his feet didn't touch the water. "You overestimate your worth. I may humour your father—and believe me, that can stop any time—but I have no such bond with you. I've heard that the Four Horsewomen were coming for me. I'm guessing you left your horses out of the woods, but shall I be sporting and wait for the fourth woman to arrive?"

Charlotte glanced back first, going pale when she only saw Bex and Bayley. "She's with the horses," she said quickly, hoping the lie was smooth enough. "Anyone who would burn down a village of innocents would have no qualms about stealing our horses. . . ."

The Skull King's mouth quirked and he raised his hand, gesturing the two men forward. At first, Bex thought they might be twins, or brothers at the very least, but the closer the came, the more differences she saw. The taller of the two had sharper features and sleeker muscles, while the other had eyes that burned and hands that never seemed to stop moving. "Are you sure?" He inched closer to the water, peering down into its murk.

Bex's gaze flickered down too, and she remembered what Sasha said about the water feeling unusually thick. There was a sheen on the surface almost like oil, but otherwise the water looked dark and swampy except for a creeping trail of blue and green, almost lost in the murk. . . . 

Bayley must have seen it too, because she purposefully bumped into Bex to make her look away. "Unlike you, we actually care about our people and animals—"

"I'm not sure which one you are," the Skull King admitted, holding Bayley's gaze. "I know Charlotte commands the air, and it's quiteobvious what Red's power will be. You seem fairly sturdy on your feet, so I'm going to guess earth. Which means the water-weaver is right . . . about . . . there." He pointed down to the slight glimmer of blue. "Seth, do your thing."

As the Skull King stepped back, the one with the burning eyes moved forward, and for the first time since he had been summoned forth, his hands stilled—and the water started to bubble.

"No." Bex barely moved her mouth to say it, but Bayley wrapped both arms around her waist, trying to hold her in place as the entire river started to boil. If Sasha was still in there, she would be forced to come to the surface soon or risk being boiled alive, and the instant she emerged, she would be trapped. Charlotte stepped in front of her too, trying to spare her the sight, but the sound of hissing water was impossible to ignore. 

Within seconds, Sasha burst from the surface, gasping and screaming. Even then she still lunged at the Skull King, but the fire-forger—Seth, the Skull King had called him—intercepted her easily and wrapped his hands around her throat, burning her and choking her all at once.

" _No!_ " Bex pried Bayley's hands apart and pushed past Charlotte, plunging her hands into the still-boiling water. It wasn't pure fire, so it was more difficult to control, but Seth was focussed on choking Sasha, so she had time to bend it to her will, forcing the heat out of the water and back into the foreign fire-forger. He howled in pain and dropped Sasha back into the water, and Bex grabbed her hastily, hauling her back to their side of the river. "Sasha, can you breathe?" she sputtered.

"Go!" Charlotte bellowed, the power of her voice and her magic sending Bex and Sasha back into the woods. "Run! _Now!_ "

Bex was about to protest, but then the taller man clenched his fist, knelt, and punched the ground. For a moment, there was nothing—just the awful bubbling of the river as it slowly started to cool, Seth's agonized panting, and Sasha's whimpers. Then the ground started to heave, tipping over trees and splitting the path in two. "Earth-etcher," she muttered. Was it Bayley who had suggested the Skull King had a second elemental? Bex couldn't remember, but whoever it was had been right. She struggled to keep Sasha upright as they ran, Bayley working frantically to stop most of the man's attacks so they had a clear path. "Do you have enough strength to tell the next river a message for them?" she asked Sasha when they reached their horses. The water-weaver was still shaking and Bex practically had to shove her up on her horse. They hadn't discussed a back-up plan or a muster point; the day was supposed to be one of talks and discovery, not fresh victims and the Skull King.

"Yes. I . . . Bex. In the water. Bodies. So many. They tried to go . . . to get to the water. But they were too late." Sasha slumped forward on her horse, hanging on to its neck for balance, and Bex slapped its side to get it running. She hated to leave Charlotte and Bayley behind, but Sasha was too weak to fight and Bex and the others would just worry about her if she were in the battle zone. "Bracelet. In the skin. Links. Power. I couldn't—"

Bex sent her horse after Sasha's, wanting to keep track of her friend. The darkness in the sky was still spreading, and she couldn't get the hiss of the boiling river out of her ears. "I'll get you somewhere safe and then I'll go back," she said as they crossed the stone bridge, only then starting to slow their pace for the horses' sake. She was reluctant to stop, but they needed some way to tell their sisters where they had gone—and hope that the Skull King didn't have a water-weaver on his side along with the fire-forger and the earth-etcher.

Sasha managed to stop her horse on her own and dismounted almost steadily. Bex helped her to the river's edge and eased her in, keeping a hand on her wrist in case she needed help. But Sasha sank into the water gratefully, and it gave Bex her first good look at the damage to the water-weaver's neck. Long stripes—from Seth's fingers, she realized—were burned into her flesh, surrounded by bruises; the boiling water had burned her face, arms, and hands as well. The longer Sasha stayed in the water, the better her wounds looked, but Bex knew they couldn't linger long, so she squeezed her friend's wrist. "Waterfall," Sasha said with a gasp as she resurfaced. "Follow this river. Further west. Not far. Leave me in the waterfall. I'll heal." Then she looked at Bex's hands as they climbed back up to their horses. "Did he burn you?"

"Don't worry about that. Let's get to that waterfall." It was only then that Bex realized they had both lost their swords back in the second woods. She wasn't worried about the Skull King or his men getting them—surely they had weapons of their own, and probably of finer make—but it left her and Sasha with limited defences. They each carried some small daggers as a matter of course, but they couldn't automatically rely on their magic: Sasha was weakened and Bex didn't want to risk having any flames she conjured turned against herself or someone else. Could their magic itself be injured? If so, would it heal? She had no idea. They had never faced adversaries with such magical might before.

Once again Sasha and her horse led the way, and even though she hadn't spent as much time healing in the river as she should have, she had recovered enough to sit properly. Riding alongside the river helped and they stopped a few times to bolster the message she had left for Bayley and Charlotte. "They don't speak in waves and splashes," she added at a particularly stormy bend. "They speak to the earth and the air. Be patient with them. And guard this one too." She scooped up a handful of water and splashed Bex with it. "It's a blessing."

"Of course it is." Bex would have laughed at it once, but nothing seemed particularly funny at the moment. Charlotte had told them to run, to get Sasha somewhere safe, but hadn't they all just been talking about unity? They were stronger together, and now they were split in two. Charlotte might be able to choke out Seth's fires, but could Bayley stand toe to toe with the male earth-etcher? His first wave of magic had nearly sent both Bex and Sasha sprawling. "Come on. It shouldn't be far now. I think I can hear it."

The beatific smile that spread across Sasha's scalded face was a balm for the soul. "Oh, I can hear it." She hopped back on her horse and urged it to run, leaving Bex struggling to catch up. "Bex, it's so beautiful!" Sasha shut her eyes to concentrate on the song of the waterfall better. "Does fire sing to you? Can you speak with the flames? Sometimes the only way I feel whole is if I'm underwater."

Bex had just been thinking of how she had cocooned herself in fire, but now those memories were forever joined with seeing that burned corpse that had just crossed the bridge. "I can. But now . . . now I'm not so sure I should." They were riding side by side, but too fast to reach over safely; she wanted to see how badly burned Sasha's throat was, but it would have to wait until they stopped again. Seeing how easily her magic could be turned to malice made her stomach turn. She was far from innocent; she had definitely thought about singeing someone more than once. The difference was that she had never done it; it was all drunken venting or hasty anger. Now that she knew what she _could_ do, what was there to stop her from having a moment of weakness and actually doing it?

Sasha glanced over at her, careful not to turn her body too much and confuse her horse. "You're not him. You're not like that. You would never do that unless you had no other choice." Then she smiled, wincing only slightly when it pulled at the scalded skin of her cheeks. "Bex, I trust you. Always."

"Thank you." Bex was about to echo the sentiment when she heard the cleansing roar of the waterfall and even though it wouldn't be a source of power for her, she still felt calmer when it came into view. The horses were all too happy to stop alongside the small waterfall and rest, and Bex left them to drink from a shallow pool nearby while she led Sasha to the crashing waters. "Are you sure you'll be okay? Do you have enough daggers? I can—"

"Bex." Sasha had been removing her clothes and draping them over a tree branch, but she stopped to look at her friend. "I know you'll probably just say this is a ploy to make you stay, but . . . the water says you shouldn't go back. It . . . thinks Bayley and Charlotte are safe, but it says the Skull King's on the move. If you head out on your own—alone with no sword—what chance do you have?" She touched her throat lightly and grimaced. "Look what they did to me in a matter of seconds. You won't have anyone there to fight on your side."

Bex walked over and tenderly touched the marks left by Seth's fingers. They were still warm—hot, even—and she slid her own fingers over them, drawing out most of the heat and what she could of the pain. Sasha's eyes went wide at the sudden relief. "I don't know if I can do much about the scalding," she apologized. "I would never even think to do that. When I think of water, I think of . . . you. Not something I can use as a weapon."

"I know." Sasha hugged her quickly, resting her forehead on Bex's shoulder. "Please stay. It's safer, and the river will carry my message to Charlotte and Bayley, and I just have a bad feeling about what will happen if we're separated even more."

Bex nodded. Some part of her kept looking back, expecting Bayley and Charlotte to arrive any second, as if this were any other journey. "I'll stay," she promised. "But we'll have to listen to the winds to see if Charlotte's trying to send a message." She took off her boots and sat on the shore, dangling her feet in the water while Sasha finished undressing and went right into the frothing spray. "Is it helping?" she called out, kicking her feet idly.

"Yes. Thank you for getting me here so quickly." Being one with the water, Sasha barely had to raise her voice to be heard over the thunder of the falls. "That was agony." Then she waved at Bex. "Come in. I'll warm up the water for you so you don't need all the layers."

Bex thought one of them should be dressed and ready to fight at a moment's notice, but the promise of warmth and relaxation was incredibly alluring. The last stretch of their ride had been frantic and demanding, and she felt her muscles starting to protest. "Only if you tell me what possessed you to try sneaking up on the Skull King," she replied, even as she was already shucking her clothing and hanging it beside Sasha's.

"I figured he would know about Charlotte's magic because of her father and yours due to reputation, but he might not know as much about Bayley and me. And I could sneak up in the water. . . ." Sasha went sombre for a moment. "I probably could have slit his throat if I hadn't been taken aback by all the bodies in the river."

"But his elementals were right there," Bex pointed out, wading into the pool gingerly. "If the fire-forger didn't get you, the earth-etcher would have." She didn't feel right using Seth's name; she didn't want that sort of familiarity with someone who could burn down entire villages.

"Maybe." Through the spray, Sasha met Bex's gaze. "I know you want to keep going south. I know you want to stop him. But we can't do it alone, Bex. We need to get home and talk with our allies."

"I know." Bex submerged herself in the pool, trusting Sasha to make sure the churning waters didn't drown her. It wasn't the all-encompassing solace of fire, but after what she had seen, she wasn't sure flames could ever hold that kind of comfort for her again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Burning in the context of a healing ritual. If you need more info, let me know.

_The sky is your blanket._ Given that the Four Horsewomen spent more nights under the stars than in beds—their own or otherwise—Bex should have been able to sleep beside the waterfall without any problems. Sasha's burns had gone deeper than either of them thought, and it had taken the rest of the day in the waterfall to heal her enough that she could fight; ideally she would finish her healing in the morning. The process was strangely exhausting, so Bex had offered to take the first watch while Sasha slept. When it came time to switch, though, Bex found it hard to sleep. The constant rumble of the waterfall was soothing and the nocturnal sounds of a forest had never bothered her, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw burning villages and Sasha struggling in the boiling water: atrocities she would never commit, or so she hoped, but she knew the rest of the world would probably disagree.

Rest ebbed and flowed like the tide, and when the sun was finally too bright to ignore, Bex opened her eyes and felt something tugging at her hair. Her first instinct was to reach for the dagger she always kept close, day or night, but a gentle hand tapped on her arm. "It's just me, Bex. Calm down."

Bex squirmed around until she was on her back, looking up at Charlotte, who was still combing out her hair. "Charlotte?" She sat up as quickly as she could, bracing herself against the ground. "Where's Bayley? Is she okay too?" The air-archer looked weary and sore, but still mercifully alive.

"Here." Bayley had been sitting by a small fire with Sasha, but she came over to hug the fire-forger. "Are you okay? Sasha said you hadn't been hurt," she added, lowering her voice, "but I know she lied about how bad her burns were." Her hands were streaked with dried mud, which for her could either be a coincidence or an attempt to heal a wound.

"Did he—" Bex looked back at Charlotte and then to Bayley again. They were both fully dressed, which meant they were mostly covered from the neck down; it was impossible to tell if they had been burned. "Are you two hurt? When did you get here?"

Charlotte stood and ruffled Bex's hair as she went to sit by the fire. "Not too long ago. Sasha said you hadn't slept well, so we didn't want to wake you. We got the message she left with the river, but we ended up sleeping a little further back. We just couldn't push the horses anymore. Come sit and eat."

Bayley helped Bex stand, barely breaking their embrace. "Thank you. Thank you for not being like him." Pressing even closer, making sure she was turned away from Sasha, she added, "How did you face him? When that earth-etcher made everything move, I . . . I froze and I. . . ."

Bex held Bayley close and kissed her forehead. She doubted that the Skull King himself had powers—that was the kind of thing he would flaunt—so Charlotte likely hadn't had to contend with another air-archer and Sasha hadn't gone against a fellow water-weaver. She and Bayley alone had witnessed the cruel side of their magic—worse for Bayley, she thought, being directly on the receiving end—and it had been both humbling and terrifying. "Let me wake up and eat and we'll go for a walk, okay?"

Squeezing Bex's hand in reply, Bayley walked with her over to the fire, where Sasha already had food waiting. "Did you get any sleep at all?" Sasha asked, patting Bex's knee when she sat. "I tried slowing the waterfall, but I didn't want to use too much energy. . . ."

"I got enough." Bex rubbed at her face before grabbing her food. Normally she cleaned up before she ate, but she wanted to hear how her sisters got away. "I'm sorry I didn't come back to help," she said, looking to Bayley first and then Charlotte. "I wanted to, but Sasha was too weak and—"

"It wouldn't have been safe for you to go back alone, Bex. We all know that." Sasha leaned over and hugged her. "They're here, they're alive, and they even managed to save our swords." She pointed to a rock near the base of the waterfall, where the blades were glistening. "I cleansed them with water. You can do a fire purification later."

Bex nodded, sneaking a glance at Sasha's neck. Most of the burn marks were gone; another session in the waterfall would probably remove them completely. "Okay. So how did you get away? Were there any survivors from the village?"

Charlotte whisked some smoke away from the fire, grimacing. "We didn't get a chance to check, but I doubt anyone would have survived, Bex. We all saw that body by the bridge. It took everything we had to get away from the Skull King, and even there, we had to draw upon the river."

When Bex looked confused, Sasha gave a small shrug. "I might have have included a protection spell when I left the message in the river. It wasn't my strongest work, but it would have made it damn hard for the Skull King and his lackeys to cross. It should have cloaked our trails too."

"I hope so." Bayley's voice was so soft, it nearly drowned in the churning of the waterfall. "I'm not ready to fight them again. We need to get home and regroup and wait for Drew's ships and Finn's."

"We will." Charlotte stroked Bayley's hair gently, making Bex wonder how much comforting the earth-etcher had needed during their escape. Emotional support wasn't Charlotte's strongest skill, but she always tried for her sisters' sake. "The fire-forger—Seth?—he was in a bit of a daze after you attacked him, Bex. I don't think he was expecting one of his own kind. The earth-etcher was hard to beat, but some of Sasha's magic must have lingered in the second river, because it would rear up whenever the Skull King tried to interfere."

Bayley cleared her throat then, ready to pick up the threads of the story. "Once we got to the horses and put some distance between us and the Skull King, I was able to make a few traps. Their earth-etcher tore through them pretty quickly, though."

Charlotte patted the younger woman's shoulder. "But it still made him work, right? That meant it took time from them and gave it to us. They almost caught up to us, but Sasha's spell at the river kept them back. We were both pretty weak by then. I was trying to shape the winds, put out Seth's fires—do anything but steal their breath, almost." Then her gaze dropped. "Maybe I should have."

Sasha spoke up before Bex could even open her mouth. "We don't kill unless we have to, and we're not going to start now. We aren't like them." She held Bex's gaze as she said it. "We aren't like them," she repeated forcefully, "and we never will be." She let that declaration sink into the silence for a few moments before speaking again. "I still have to heal a bit, but I should be ready to head out by midday. Charlotte? Bayley?" Turning to Bex, she added, "If you need any flames to burn out your injuries, I made the fire, so you should be able to use it."

Bex nodded sombrely. "Thanks." Just as Charlotte couldn't conjure air for herself to breathe, Bex couldn't use flames she had forged to heal herself. She was pretty sure she was the least injured of the Horsewomen, though: Sasha had made the initial attack and Charlotte and Bayley had bore the brunt of the fighting, while Bex had deflected Seth's powers back at him and then helped Sasha escape.

Sasha started undressing, leaving her clothes on the ground. "I'll be in the waterfall if you need me. Where will you all be?"

Tilting her head back, Charlotte considered her options. When it came to healing, Bex and Bayley had it the easiest: there was almost always stones or soil available for Bayley, and there were usually fire-making materials at hand for someone to use to help Bex. Charlotte needed natural air currents, which generally required a certain amount of height. "I'd thought about the trees last night when we finally made camp," she said, "but I was afraid of falling out." Then she watched Sasha start to disappear into the waterfall, merging with the cascade. "I might try climbing up to the top. Looks like there's a good breeze up there. What about you, Bayley?"

Bayley shot Bex a quick look. "You go on ahead. I'll make sure the fire stays strong for Bex and when she's done, I'll go curl up in that cave." She pointed up at a hole in the rock wall that was more of a crevice than a cave, but her affinity for earth meant she would be able to sneak in without a problem.

Glancing around the campsite quickly, Bex saw that Sasha hadn't gathered much firewood. With Bex around, there was little need; she could set fire to the air if she wanted, so kindling wasn't usually required when they were on the move. "We should go get some wood then," Bex said, rising to her feet. The fire was far enough away from their belongings that it wouldn't catch, and it was ringed with grounding stones, so she felt safe enough leaving it unattended. She thought about shielding it, but since their horses were tied up nearby and they had various pieces of clothes and gear scattered around the area, it would be obvious to anyone who happened by that someone was still in the area. "Let's go, Bayley. The more rest you get, the better."

After watching Charlotte climb to make sure she got to the top safely—as waterfalls went, it was relatively short, but it would still be a perilous drop—Bayley practically ran for the cover of the trees, and Bex hurried to follow. "Charlotte thinks the Skull King let us get away," Bayley blurted out, bracing both hands against a thick-trunked tree. "She thinks it was far too easy and that Sasha's spell wouldn't have held as long as it did. I don't think they're nearby, but that other earth-etcher could be blocking my sense of movement."

Moving away from the trees, Bex let a few flames dance along her hands, tasting the air like a serpent's tongue. She could trace other fires that way—handy for finding other people or settlements—but at the moment, the only blaze in the immediate vicinity seemed to be theirs. "I can't sense anything either. I think we're okay for now. I'm sure the others know this is just an excuse, but let's get some wood anyway and get you up in that cave." She squeezed her hands to extinguish the flames and let them cool down before she picked up a large fallen branch.

Bayley already had several branches in her arms. "Would you . . . sit with me? There's a ledge by the cave. Just for a bit," she added, voice bashful. "I just . . . I don't know if I can trust my magic anymore, Bex, and it terrifies me. The earth-etching has been the only constant in my life. It was there for me when I had to leave my family, before I found you three. I always thought it was a good thing, a gift, no matter what other people tried to say. But then I saw him punch the ground and I felt the earth work against me, and it . . . it _hurt_. Not just physically, but. . . ."

"I know." Careful not to disturb Bayley's armful of wood, Bex hugged her from the side, resting her forehead against the earth-etcher's temple. "I know. I think I felt the water start to boil before I heard Sasha scream and it gutted me. I kept seeing it when I was trying to sleep and I know she knows it wasn't me, but. . . ."

"But that's what we could be if we didn't have each other." Bayley sounded near tears. "And when Charlotte eventually goes back to her father to take over the throne, what will she do? Who will be there to help her? You and me and Sasha will still have each other—I hope—"

Bex squeezed Bayley's shoulders so hard she yelped. "Of course we will. And that day is a long way off, so let's focus on getting healed first, and then getting home to plan against the Skull King. Remember what Sasha always says? You can't dive directly into the future; you have to swim through the present first."

Bayley wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. That's not really her type of saying."

Laughing, Bex agreed. "She must have heard it from someone at a mead hall." Then she looked at Bayley's collection of wood and her own. "This should be good. Anything else you want to talk about before we get back?"

"Just . . . if I have visions like you did or . . . anything, can I talk to you? I know Charlotte and Sasha care," Bayley said quickly, "and they would listen, but I worry that they'll just keep saying that I would never do those things and that _you_ would never and that doesn't really help."

"It doesn't," Bex agreed. Since she had gathered less wood, she grabbed some from Bayley's arms and led the way back. Once they had the pile in place, Bex picked a thin stick from the fire and handed it to Bayley. "I don't think I was injured, but I should still check." She quickly shucked off her clothes and took the stick back. "Do you see any burns that I can't?" she asked, turning around.

Bayley shook her head. "Some scrapes and bruises, but in our line of work, that's just decoration," she quipped. Her laugh wasn't quite as bright as usual, but Bex was still glad to hear it; it meant the earth-etcher wasn't completely lost in her own head.

Bex gave herself a once-over with the fire stick, feeling the ghost of warmth drift over her skin and soothe her aches and pains. When she was done, she thanked the flame and returned the stick to the fire before shaking off the ashes. She would have loved to bathe in the pool, but with Sasha in deep healing, Charlotte up in the winds, and Bayley about to burrow into a cave, one of them had to remain alert and ready and she was the best candidate. Moving the swords closer to the fire so she would remember to purify them later, Bex gestured to the rock wall. "You better be right about that ledge," she teased, "because I'm pretty sure none of us are bone-binders." She wasn't sure that was a magic that even existed, but if there were people who could wield fire, air, earth, and water, she liked to think there were other gifts out there.

Of course, if they were in the hands of people like those the Skull King was using as weapons, maybe having someone who could manipulate bones wouldn't be such a good thing after all. Visions of crushed skulls, ribs piercing lungs like arrows, and shattered limbs made Bex feel nauseated. 

Bayley caught her shift in mood and stopped at the base of the rock wall. "You don't have to come up. It's probably safer if one of us is on the ground. . . ."

"I'll come up for a little while," Bex insisted, "until you're settled. Then I'll come back down and guard the camp. The horses will need water pretty soon anyway." Then she gave Bayley a friendly nudge. "What are you waiting for? Ragnarok?"

"That might be better than whatever the Skull King has planned," Bayley answered with a grimace. Then she set off up the rock wall, climbing with the steady aplomb of a mountain goat. Bex was considerably less graceful, but grateful to note that the ledge Bayley had promised was actually quite wide. It wouldn't be comfortable for very long, but at least Bex was in no danger of falling off unless she made a sudden move. When she saw Bex looking down, Bayley laughed gently. "I'll tell the rocks to be nice to you, for what it's worth." Then her expression darkened a bit, like a cloud passing in front of the sun. "Of course, if that other earth-etcher shows up—"

"He won't," Bex replied quickly, settling in on the ledge while Bayley wormed into the narrow opening to examine it. "The fire-forger won't either, and definitely not the Skull King. He'll want to regroup, and he'll want his lackeys as protection. That's why they're called The Shield, I imagine. He likes to act like he's the sword, winning the battles, but it's The Shield's might that keeps him from being touched. Maybe Charlotte is right. Maybe he let you two go. But every moment he has now to plan is a moment we have as well. The only real advantage he has now is that he knows our powers. But he doesn't know everything. He won't know about the Three Kingdoms, or Paige and Drew and Finn." It didn't go unnoticed by Bex that she was often the only one to include Paige as an ally. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but she wanted to believe that their old alliance still held true.

Bayley eased out gingerly and then went in backwards, in case she had to make a hasty exit. "But we hardly know anything about him at all. He just has to ask at any village mead hall and he'll hear a dozen different stories about us," she pointed out. "But most people don't survive to tell stories about him, and the ones who do are so terrified they can barely remember details, let alone share them."

Taking advantage of Bayley's relative captivity, Bex mussed her hair. "And half of those mead hall stories are either lies or embellished, so he doesn't know as much about us as he thinks he does. The locals may be a bit afraid of us, but they know our work. They know everything we've done to help the villages and to keep the Skull King contained to the south. I don't think they would betray us, and I don't think the Skull King has the patience to torture people for information. He seems to just want to burn his way through everything that doesn't give in to him at the snap of his fingers."

"If he's this obsessed," Bayley mused, wriggling around until she was comfortable, "imagine what Queen Stephanie must be like."

"Let's hope we never have to find out. I think the Skull King is going to be enough of a challenge on his own." Bex settled against the wall and watched Bayley relax. She didn't imagine Charlotte's father was going to help, but she hoped he was not going to choose the Skull King's side either, at least. He had too many powerful allies and connections, and if they were all at the Skull King's disposal, then the monarchs of the Three Kingdoms would need all the fighters they could spare just to defend their own lands.

The sound of her voice seemed to soothe Bayley, so Bex rambled on for a while, telling her about how Sasha left the message in the river and how they escaped. They were so far off their planned course now that Bex wasn't sure how long it would take them to reach the northern settlement, but she hoped it wouldn't be more than a full day's ride. They were all far too on edge to go for long without taking definitive action, and she knew that if they confronted the Skull King again so soon, the outcome wouldn't be as favourable as it had been this time. "I'm heading down now," she whispered by Bayley's ear, waiting for a soft murmur of assent before carefully picking her way back down the rock wall. Climbing up had been far easier not just because of Bayley's instinctive help, but also because Bex had been able to see where she was going.

Once she was back on solid ground, Bex busied herself with the details of camp life. First she fed and watered all four horses, taking each one for a short walk to stretch their legs. Once she had them settled again, she attended to her and Sasha's swords, drying off the last of the moisture before conjuring a fire in mid-air and swinging each blade through it, pretending it was a practice battle. As she swung the sword through the flames, Bex could hear tiny pops and sizzles, and she kept bathing the weapons in spellfire until they fell silent; then she rested them at the edge of the waterfall's pool to cool, making sure their handles were visible.

Glancing up, she could see Charlotte up at the top of the rock wall, facing the other direction; her long golden hair fluttered like a flag behind her. The ledge was too wide for Bex to catch a glimpse of Bayley, and she knew Sasha had sought her refuge in the wild spray of the waterfall. Once all the camp chores were done—food packed up, horses ready to go at a moment's notice—she sat by the fire Sasha had made, pushed up her sleeve, and thrust her arm inside. It was warmer than her conjured flames felt, though not by much; the heat she felt was conjured by her reaction, the way her body took the fire and spun it into energy and blood. Most people thought fire-forging was a violent magic, but Bex had always sought the calmness in it. For a natural fire, she knew that the ones that burned the longest were the ones that were built best, layer by layer: a nest of tinder surrounded by kindling, nurtured until a spark birthed flame. Too many people made the mistake of immediately seeking out the widest, heaviest piece of wood, assuming it would burn the longest.

Sighing, Bex withdrew her arm and brushed the ash—any pain and impurities drawn out of her system—to the ground, murmuring her gratitude to the flames. When she went to put her other arm in, though, something on the other side of the waterfall caught her eye—and her magic.

A fire, much like the one Sasha had made, burning softly and steadily with no one there to tend it. Bex rose to her feet quickly, splashing across the shallowest part of the pool heedless of her clothing. Once she was sure that the fire wasn't in danger of spreading, she peered into the trees, but she couldn't even see a bird, let alone another human. Once she was convinced she was alone, she returned to the abandoned fire, which seemed to be unusually yellow. Her first instinct was to extinguish it with her magic, but she thought of her sisters: Bayley tucked in her cave cocoon, Charlotte communing with the winds, Sasha flowing into the waters. If the fire was a trap, they were all vulnerable.

So she scooped water up in her hands instead, taking several trips to extinguish the flames, but an eerie glow remained. Thrusting her hands into the steaming debris wasn't a threat—as far as she knew, she couldn't burn—and she pushed charred pieces of wood to either side until she uncovered a gleaming skull, coated in what appeared to be gold, resting on its side like a person in slumber.

Refusing to think of Bayley in such a similar position, Bex gingerly removed the gilded skull from the remains of the fire, trying to keep it at the same angle. When it tilted slightly, though, she felt something strangely liquid trickle over her hand, and was surprised to see water coursing around her knuckles like a river weaving between rocks. "How—?"

Then a feather fluttered to her feet, black but not with char. After she started to move the skull into an upright position, she heard a faint rattle, and a stone fell free as well, pinning the feather to the ground. Still the glow remained, and it wasn't until she ran her fingers over the top of the skull that she realized there was a small engraving there, right in the bone. It was shallow and crude, but undeniable all the same: a crown.

A crown for the Skull King. 

Hands shaking, Bex lifted the skull up to eye level. Was it its own magic? Could the Skull King see through its eyes—eye sockets, rather? Bex had no clue; she had never seen water or a feather that would survive fire. Deep in the eye sockets, though, there was a spark—the source of the eerie glow, she assumed. It tumbled over itself, orange over red over black, and for a moment, Bex felt like it was looking into her soul.

It took her a moment to grasp the truth, even more grim in its own way. It had nothing to do with her soul. When she looked into the eye sockets and saw that perversion of flame, she was almost certain she was seeing a small part of Seth's soul instead.


	12. Chapter 12

"How is it still burning?" Charlotte peered deep into the eye sockets of the golden skull as if its jaw might open and give her an answer. "Don't you have to be within a certain distance to control fires, Bex? We've looked all over and we can't even find a deer, let alone another human." Sighing, she set it back down on the ground on top of an old blanket so it wasn't in contact with the ground; the fewer elements it could touch—and potentially warp—the better.

Bex sat hunched by the fire—another naturally built fire, since the appearance of the golden skull had all the Four Horsewomen on edge. She had offered to start a fire, but her three sisters thought it would be safer if the flames bore none of her magic, so she sat back and watched. The fire called to her as it always did, but she still kept her distance. "I do, yes," she replied quietly, bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. "But Seth—"

"Don't," Sasha snapped. "Don't give that monster any honour by using his name." All of the water that had been in the golden skull had long since absorbed into the soil, but ghostly streaks remained on the skull, almost like the salty tracks of tears. "It's bad enough that you went over here alone, Bex!" 

" _Over here?_ " Bex pointed stubbornly to the other side of the waterfall's pool where their horses remained. In the shallows, it was easy enough to walk across; at the narrowest point where it birthed a river, their horses could have easily made the leap. When she had roused the other three Horsewomen, she had left the skull and its relics where she had found them, not wanting to risk their camp; after much debate, all four of them had crossed over to examine the strange offering. "I didn't even leave the clearing! I could have yelled for Charlotte or. . . ." Bex stopped before any of her sisters could protest. Sasha and Bayley had been too deep in their healing; by the time they would have heard her cries, it would have been too late. Charlotte might have been able to get down in time, but it would have used precious magic and left her weak.

Bayley edged closer to the fire-forger and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I understand," she began softly. "I would have been tempted to investigate too. But what if he had still been here? He could have killed you before you even made a sound, and the rest of us wouldn't have had a chance. I know we're all used to being the only magic users, but that's not the case anymore. We have to be more careful now." The shadows of deep cracks lingered on her skin, as if she had been becoming one with the ancient rocks of the waterfall's wall.

The pink in Charlotte's cheeks spoke to her anger, but she still hugged Bex from the other side, kissing her cheek. "Sometimes you're too brave for your own good. Did you know that? You had no idea what was in that fire, or in the skull." She pointed to the remaining relics, now sitting in front of the golden skull. The feather rippled occasionally in a breeze even Charlotte couldn't sense, and the rock would spin without warning, though there seemed to be no rhyme nor reason to its movements or placement. "You could have died."

Bex fought the urge to look into the golden skull's eyes again, to see those dark tumbling flames. There was definitely a sense of darkness to the relic, but it was underscored with pain too and something she could only call _striving_. She was certain that the flames—both the internal ones and those that had originally cloaked the entire skull—were of Seth's making, and it felt like something he had done on his own, not at the Skull King's bidding. The carved crown on top of the skull was undeniable, though, so she didn't want to bring that possibility up to her sisters. Any sympathy she showed would be seen as a weakness. So why couldn't she shake the idea that the skull wasn't a threat or a trap, but rather a plea for help—maybe even laden with hints as to how to defeat the Skull King? "But I didn't," she replied simply, "and that matters too. If . . . he got this close to us, who knows what else he could have done? He could have boiled Sasha alive in the waterfall before I had a chance to stop him. He could have set a fire in Bayley's cave that devoured her or sent sparks on the wind to sink into Charlotte's skin. Instead he left a skull with symbols of us." She pointed to the feather first. "Charlotte." The rock was next. "Bayley." Then she reached out to trace the water's path. "Sasha." The flames were obviously for her. "Maybe this is meant to be a sign that we have to be united to defeat him."

Sasha rolled her eyes. "We already knew that. We already _are_ —"

"We weren't at the second river," Bayley interjected softly. She could be hesitant at the best of times, but she almost always deferred to Sasha. Bex felt a surge of pride that the earth-etcher was finding her voice. "Sasha, you snuck off and went in the river. If we had known that, we might have been able to defend you. Even with Bex spotting you in the water, we were too late. And then we split up to get you to safety, so we still weren't fighting as one."

Charlotte held up both hands. "It could be a thousand things. A threat, a trap, a way to mark territory. We don't know. The key here is that he got this close— _this close!_ —to us and none of us sensed him. _None of us_." She shot Bex a look that was half exasperation, half apology. "Maybe Asuka will be able to decipher it better than we can."

When Charlotte reached forward to wrap the skull and its contents in the blanket, though, Sasha lunged forward to stop her. "No. No! You just said that we don't know what its purpose is. It's bad enough that we've all touched it. We could have activated something—a spell, a trap, some sort of signal. _We don't know._ We can't take it with us! For all we know, it will lead the Skull King right to us!"

Bex almost moved to side with Charlotte. She kept thinking about those eyes, those _flames_. They were trying to tell her something, she was sure of it. She just needed more time. "What if we buried it here? Obviously we can't get the water back, but we could wrap everything else in the blanket and bury it and mark the spot. Then when Drew's knights and Finn's warriors arrive," she added, nodding at Bayley, "we can come back with Asuka. We'll have more protection then."

"Or maybe it just means more people will end up cursed!" Sasha sat back violently. The blues and greens from their ocean voyage had almost ebbed out of her hair, and it was surprising how different she looked without that splash of colour framing her face. "I'm sorry. I just . . . I'm worried, okay? Now we've seen what an earth-etcher and a fire-forger can do when they're monsters. What if they have a water-weaver and an air-archer too? What if they're trying to turn us? Or . . . or trap us? Three of us were communing with our elements; if Bex hadn't been awake. . . ."

All four women went silent. Since elemental magic was so rare, it wasn't as if they had lessons or even much advice to follow. Most of what they had learned came from legends, and some of the darker stories told of the grim shadow cast by magic. Water-weavers who came to love the ocean so much they sank to the bottom of it, shunning all human contact. Air-archers who were torn asunder willingly by the winds, scraps of their soul carried across all the lands, never to rest. Earth-etchers who sank deep into the ground, skin turning to stone. Fire-forgers who sat upon pyres until their spirit turned to smoke. The Skull King clearly knew more about their powers than they did, so he likely knew more about their weaknesses as well; he could attack them with magic and methods they wouldn't know how to defend against. "Let's bury it," Bayley said firmly, bundling the skull together with the feather and the stone and tying a rope around the blanket for good measure. "We can even dig the hole rather than use magic. But what can we mark the spot with?"

"Let's dig first." Charlotte found two large, mostly flat stones at the edge of the pool. "It will be too easy to see that the ground was disturbed if we bury them here. Maybe at the base of a tree? Or will that make it more likely that an animal will find it?"

Bayley scouted the area, crouching down and sweeping her fingers through grass and soil. "Maybe close to the water's edge? Then there will be two kinds of energies. It might make it harder for their earth-etcher to trace." She pointed to a few areas that were already scuffed down to the soil by heavy animal traffic. "And the animals will help tamp it down."

Wordlessly, Bex took one of the shovel stones from Charlotte and started digging a short distance away from a distinctive-looking sitting rock. She knew she should have waited to go to the fire, should have woken up her sisters so they could have all examined the threat together. Maybe when she had lifted the skull out of the flames, she had broken some thread of magic or lost some vital clue; digging the hole by herself was difficult, but it felt like some sort of penance. After she had created a hole deep enough that she could just barely touch the bottom, she gestured to Bayley for the bundle. "You tied it up tight?"

Bayley nodded as she handed the wrapped skull to Bex. "Should I . . . cast a binding on the soil?"

Sasha shook her head. "We already know they have an earth-etcher, and he knows your magic. He might be able to trace it somehow. They already know we were here, but we don't have to give them a beacon to follow." Then she squeezed Bex's shoulders from behind. "I'm sorry, Bex. I wasn't upset with you. We've faced so many threats before, so many dangers, but this just feels so different. It scares me."

It was a simple admission, but coming from Sasha it weighed heavily on them all. She had endured so much in her relatively young life, made so many sacrifices and shown such bravery and resolve. Anything that frightened her was a force to be reckoned with. Surprisingly, it was Charlotte who went to Sasha and embraced her. "We all are. We just need to find a way to use that fear. The fear in the villages too. Everyone has a story now: a cousin or sibling or friend who was in one of the fallen villages. They already know there's something to fear. Now we just have to help them focus their fear and use it to fight. To resist."

What resistance there was to made, Bex didn't know. If they were experienced warriors _and_ magic users and they couldn't beat the Skull King, what chance did an ordinary farmer or baker have? She tried not to dwell on it as she filled in the hole and smoothed the soil over top as best she could. Then she followed her sisters back across the pool to their camp, but she couldn't get the image of the skull's burning eyes out of her mind. It felt like they had seen to the deepest heart of her, and she wasn't sure she would like what they had found.


	13. Chapter 13

Between their healing sessions and the debate over what to do with the golden skull, the Four Horsewomen had lost much of the day. When darkness started to fall, the nearest village was still a few hours away, and all four women were too tired to keep riding. "And I still didn't have a bath," Bex lamented when they made their camp along the first river, the one where Sasha had left her message for Bayley and Charlotte. 

Stifling a yawn, Sasha pointed to the river. "Without the sun to warm it, there's only so much I can do if I don't want to expend too much energy. I can ask it to watch over you, though."

"That's good enough," Bex assured her. "If it was too comfortable, I might fall asleep." She knew she should just go to sleep with the others until it was her turn to take watch, but suddenly every speck of dust and drop of sweat seemed to grate at her skin. Glancing over at their campfire, she saw that Charlotte was already stretched out and resting. "Bayley, are you taking first watch?" she called out.

"Yeah," Bayley replied. "I need to wind down a bit. Go ahead. I'll holler if I see or hear anything."

"Thanks. I'll take second watch." Then Bex followed Sasha to the river, taking along a large blanket to use for drying off. Her hair would be a mess in the morning, but it usually was anyway, and she could always have another bath.

Sasha knelt at the river's edge and crooned to it, first thanking it for its earlier healing and giving her message to Charlotte and Bayley. "This silly one wants a late night bath," she murmured, tugging Bex down beside her. "Watch over her in my stead, please. Let no harm come to her." Bex couldn't tell if the burbling of the river was a reply or simply the current, but Sasha seemed satisfied when she stood. "Don't take too long." She glanced back at the camp and waved at Bayley. The camp was still visible now, but when the darkness thickened, the only thing that would guide Bex back to her sisters would be the fire. 

"I won't." Bex spread her drying blanket on the bank and undressed, leaving all her things on the wool. When she dipped a toe into the water to test the temperature, she selfishly wished she had asked Sasha to use a bit of magic, but she could make do. Her main goal was to rinse the day from her skin: the water from the skull, the dirt from digging, the tears of frustration and the ever-present sweat of a warrior's life. "Thank you," she whispered to the water, skimming a hand over its surface. She knew she had promised not to linger, but the solitude was welcome and so she swam back and forth for a while, making sure to keep the camp's fire in sight.

"Why haven't you warmed it?" The words came as a shock, but the voice was even more of a surprise: male, quiet, almost hesitant. Ducking down to her shoulders in the water, Bex didn't expect to be able to see anyone in the gloom, but Seth seemed to have a subtle glow on the opposite shore. "Or is that your downfall? You can't use fire to warm yourself, can you?"

Bex didn't open her mouth to scream. She could barely move at all, riveted by the sight of the man—the monster, in Sasha's terms—who had sat down on the bank across from her, with embers and empathy in his eyes. Something glittered at his wrist and she reared back, ready to go for the dagger in her pile of clothes.

"It's just a bracelet," Seth said softly, holding his wrist out to show her. "It can't hurt you. Only me." Before Bex could comment, he lowered his hand to the water. "Let me warm it for you." When she reared back again, he winced, gaze sliding away. "Not . . . like that, I promise. Just warm."

Bex still scrambled for her side of the bank, reliving the memory of the boiling water and Sasha's agonized screams, but this water only warmed steadily, stopping when it held just an edge of true heat. "What are you doing?" she squeaked out. Her brain was desperate for her to scream for help, to get out of the water and ready herself for a fight, naked as she was. But those sparks in his eyes reminded her of the flames in the skull, the sense that he had left something of himself behind.

"I can't stay long. He'll notice I'm gone and take it out on Roman." Seth edged closer to the water and Bex tried to stay calm. "He's my brother in all the ways that matter, just like those women are your sisters. I wanted to explain—"

" _What are you doing?_ " Bex repeated, voice frantic and low. He was almost in the water now, fully dressed, and she could barely make a sound louder than a whisper. A monster was coming for her and she was unarmed and she was going to die and Bayley would find her body on the bank when Bex didn't come to relieve her and Sasha would feel her dying—

"I'm not going to hurt you." Seth laughed softly as he eased into the water. "I don't think the water would let me even if I tried. I just want to explain—"

"Your clothes are getting wet." It was possibly the most obvious, stupid thing Bex had ever said—and she had said quite a lot in her time, often fuelled by mead—but they were the only words that would come out of her mouth.

Seth's smile shone like the moon. "I can take them off if it would make you feel better. Then we'd be equal—"

"No." No, she didn't need that at all. Bex needed him to be out of the river, out of her sight, out of her head. She needed to stop thinking about the spark in his eyes and how familiar he felt. "If . . . if you are truly here in good faith," she stammered at last, "say your piece and be gone. You'll find my sisters won't be quite as forgiving as I am." The stiffness of the language felt like armour to her.

"My apologies to your friend— _sister_ ," he corrected quickly. "I had no choice. This bracelet binds me to him, makes me his conduit."

Bex drifted closer. "We've heard The Shield is three men. Where's your third?" It was a risk and she knew she couldn't truly believe anything Seth said, but she felt compelled to listen.

A sadness fell over Seth like a shroud, all but dimming the spark in his eyes. "We were. Dean left."

"How? If . . . if you're held in thrall by the bracelet—" Looking closer, Bex gasped. It wasn't a simple cuff or shackle. It was a series of loops, like the chain-mail she had seen on Paige's warriors, but with each circle hooked directly into his skin. Judging from the swelling there, Seth had tried removing some rings recently, but to no avail. "How—"

"He's strong. And love made him stronger. Please, I don't have much time." Seth's eyes started to brighten again. "Did you find the skull I left for you?"

Bex nodded, feeling a stab of guilt that she hadn't spared a thought for the owner of the skull until that moment. She doubted Seth had killed someone just to send the message—with the Skull King killing so many, he would have had plenty of skeletons to choose from—but someone had died all the same. "I didn't sense you," she admitted. It was probably another mistake, but she couldn't help but be a tiny bit in awe of his power. "None of us did. How did you—"

"Please." Seth grimaced as if in pain, and Bex wondered just how linked his bracelet was to the Skull King. Had the tyrant realized he was missing? Was Roman being punished for it? Bex had a hard time mustering up much sympathy for either remaining member of The Shield, considering the atrocities they had committed, but if there was anything she understood, it was the indomitable instinct to protect one's family. "Where is it? What did you do with it?" He swam close enough to touch, causing small waves to crash against Bex's chest.

"We buried it." Sasha's voice, as sharp and unforgiving as her sword, cut through the darkness when she reared out of the water and wound her arms around Seth's neck. "Just like we'll bury you when I'm done." Then with a great heave, she dove into the water, taking the thrashing fire-forger with her.

" _Sasha!_ " Bex's voice came back to her in full then, along with her fear and common sense, and she desperately dove to follow them. The water was Sasha's domain, though, and it clouded Bex's path, barely allowing to see her hands when her arms were fully extended. 

_Watch over her in my stead, please. Let no harm come to her._ Sasha's benediction came back to Bex as she surfaced for air, sputtering for a moment before diving down again. The river must have considered Seth a threat and found some way to tell Sasha that he was there.

When Bex was forced to rise again, she looked up and down the river and saw no signs of struggle, not even a hint of movement; the water was as smooth as glass. Something stirred by the fire, though, and Bex saw shapes moving her way. She hauled herself out of the water, dumped her clothes to the ground, and wrapped the blanket around herself as best she could before spreading her arms wide, creating a fan of fire to illuminate the river. "She's drowning him!" Bex rasped as Charlotte dropped to her knees beside her. "He . . . he was going to tell me what the skull meant, what it was for, and then Sasha came—"

"Fuck." Charlotte pushed up her sleeve and thrust her arm in the water. For a moment, Bex didn't know what she was hoping to accomplish, but then things started floating to the surface: half of a wagon wheel, some rabbit bones, a sword sheath. Grimacing, she reached in with her other hand as well. "Bayley, help me!"

Bayley had knelt on Bex's other side, checking her for injuries, but hesitated, her concern for Sasha writ plain across her face. In the end, though, she sank her hands into the water-softened soil along the riverbank, and between her efforts and Charlotte's, they managed to force Sasha to the surface. Charlotte pried a nearly blue Seth from the water-weaver and clasped a hand over his mouth, filling his lungs with precious air, while Bex and Bayley tried to calm Sasha down. "Sasha! Sasha, _please_. We don't kill unless we have to, remember? We're supposed to be better—"

"Fuck that! Fuck him and fuck being _better_!" Sasha snarled. Bex put all her weight on the water-weaver's legs while Bayley held her from behind, but it took her several minutes to settle and she glared at Seth, who was coughing and panting, the entire time. "Bex, why didn't you call for us?"

"Not here . . . to hurt." Seth's voice was hoarse and he kept a hand on his throat as he looked to Bex. 

Charlotte quickly gripped his chin and tilted his face up. "She's not going to help you. None of us are. _You_ are going to help _us_. Get up." She forced Seth to his feet and started pushing him back towards their camp. "Are you two able to handle Sasha?"

Bayley nodded. "We'll be fine. Bex, you can get dressed."

Bex had almost forgotten she was wearing only a blanket, despite the fact that the wool was starting to make her skin prickle. "I'll be quick." She pulled on her clothes without much care, knowing she looked like a mess from head to toe. Her head was in even more disarray, and she felt her heart sinking as Charlotte led Seth away. Her fellow fire-forger had been about to confess to something, to reveal the meaning behind the skull, and now he wouldn't be likely to divulge anything. Not to mention his brother was probably being punished in his place, and if the Skull King could use the linked bracelets to track his men, the tyrant was going to be on his way. "I'm not a traitor," she said weakly. "I . . . I was just in the river and he showed up and said he wanted to explain. . . ."

Bayley's mouth twitched. "Wait til we're back at camp. Charlotte will want to hear too." Then she sighed as she stood and raised Sasha up with her. "I have the feeling this is going to be a long night."


	14. Chapter 14

A Horsewoman suffering from lack of sleep was damn near a monster. Bex knew that all too well and she had a few scars to prove it. She had probably doled out a few in her day as well, to be fair. There was a reason they told villagers not to wake them up whenever they spent the night in a mead hall, and Seth was going to learn it first-hand very soon. Bex almost felt sorry for him. Then she remembered the burning buildings, the charred corpses, the boiling water that had seared Sasha's shriek into her memory forevermore.

The look on Charlotte's face when Bex, Bayley, and Sasha returned to the camp sealed it: Bex was going to be too busy feeling sorry for herself to extend any sympathy to Seth, fellow fire-forger or not. At least Charlotte's gaze was soft and sorrowful when she said, "Bayley, Sasha, come here, please. Bex, just . . . stay there for a moment, okay?" Seth was at her feet, wrists and ankles bound with heavy rope.

They didn't trust her anymore. Bex was sure of it. First there was the matter of not alerting them to the skull right away. Now she had been found within reach of one of the Skull King's men and she hadn't called for help or tried to subdue him. In a way, she couldn't blame them; if one of her Horsewomen sisters had been acting so strangely, she would be suspicious too. She sat down against the trunk of a tree and wrung more water out of her hair while she waited, trying not to glance over at the others. It was Sasha who finally stepped away from the group and waved Bex forward. "We want to ask him some questions," she began, not quite meeting Bex's gaze. "But we think it would be better for you if you weren't here. We'll call you back when it's safe and tell you everything after."

"Safe?" Bex echoed, glancing at her sister's faces one by one. "The Skull King could be on his way here to collect his thrall, and you think it's _safe_ for me to be off on my own?" She could have added that she had been alone in the river when Seth approached, but that wouldn't help her cause.

Bayley stepped forward next, looking vaguely guilty. "It's not because of what happened in the river," she stated. "It's because he's a fire-forger. We've never dealt with two elementals with the same magic before. We don't know if he can . . . steal your powers or affect you. We just want you out of range—somewhere where we can still see you. And you can have a fire to get warm—a normal one, I mean; I'll make it for you. . . ."

Bex shook her head in disbelief. Seth had managed to sneak up at her back at the waterfall and start a fire without her noticing; how could they possibly have any idea of the extent of his powers? But there was no point in arguing. They were all tired and the sooner her sisters had interrogated Seth to their satisfaction, the sooner they could sleep. She spared a thought for Seth's ultimate fate, but in that moment, it felt like hers wasn't looking much more favourable. Charlotte must have sensed her dismay, because she broke from the group to come hug Bex. "If it was the earth-etcher we had tied up, it would be Bayley we were sending away, I swear it. We just aren't sure how two fire-forgers in close proximity will react, and we're trying to be careful. That's all."

"Fine. Just remind Sasha that we're not murderers, will you? She seems to be reconsidering our stance on that." Bex shrugged out of Charlotte's embrace and stalked forward, following Bayley to a spot not far from where they had the horses tethered. She would still be able to see the main camp, but her connection to its fire—and thus also to Seth, she had to assume—was considerably weaker. "Bayley, I understand. I do. I'm not mad at you," she said as Bayley started making a second fire. "I'm not mad at any of you. I'm just upset with . . . with all this. I should be there. I should be asking questions and listening and. . . ."

"I know." Once the fire was burning steadily, Bayley crouched down to hug Bex. "I believe you. I believe _in_ you. I'll try to convince the others, but—"

"Don't. Don't get yourself in trouble on my account," Bex insisted. "I'll be fine. I'm just saying it's a waste of time, because everything will have to be repeated and I might think to ask certain questions—as a fire-forger—that the rest of you wouldn't." The possibility that her sisters might not share everything they learned with her was feeling more likely by the minute.

"We'll do our best." It was hardly much of a promise, but it was the best Bayley could do, and she squeezed Bex's hand before heading back to the main camp.

Maybe it was her tiredness. Maybe it was annoyance at being left out. Maybe it was the frustration of being in the river and getting so close to the truth—and other things, she had to admit—on her own, only to be denied. But a bitter part of Bex hoped Seth revealed nothing, though she knew it would only earn him a beating from Charlotte or Sasha. Bex settled by the fire, taking solace in how the flames danced and snapped, unlike anything else on earth. She had always considered fire to be the most mysterious of the elements and when she had discovered her gift, she was ecstatic that her affinity was for flames and not one of the other powers. She couldn't picture herself having the grace for air, the patience for earth, or the mutability for water; her spirit had always been pure fire.

Every once in a while Bex glanced over and, more often than not, Seth was looking her way. She thought he would glance away once she caught him at it, but his gaze always lingered until someone—usually Sasha—smacked his arm and made him refocus. It made Bex laugh and she started to raise a hand to her mouth to cover the sound when she noticed a streak of red winding around her knuckles. At first she thought it was blood and she wondered if, in a fit of temper, she had hit a tree on her way over to her spot of banishment. Then it sparked, slithering between her fingers like a small snake, and she realized it was a spirit of flame—and not one of her own conjuring.

She looked over to the main camp as subtly as she could and saw Seth watching her, his smile catching the firelight. The flame-snake curled around her thumb briefly before settling around her wrist like a bracelet, all movement and light. Bex had to press her other hand to her mouth so her delighted laugh didn't draw the attention of the other Horsewomen. Then she lifted her other hand higher and, once she had calmed herself, held both hands beside each other, watching the fire-snake wander from one to the other, winding around her fingers as if they were the branches of a tree. When she leaned closer, curious to see if there was a pattern to the flame, the fire-snake arched up like a cat, brushing against her lips.

"Stop it," she whispered. Seth wouldn't be able to hear the admonition with his ears, but she wondered if his creation would convey it to him. She didn't get a chance to find out, however, because Bayley was heading back to the second fire. Bex quickly closed her hands around the fire-snake and felt it dissolve into smoke. "Am I still in exile?" she asked, hoping there were no tendrils of smoke clinging to her.

Bayley looked half annoyed, half amused. "Seth won't talk until we include you. So Charlotte threatened to levitate him over the river so that Sasha could drown him if he tries anything with you, and he agreed." Then she shrugged. "Do you want me to put the fire out or are you—?"

"I will." Becky stood and used a wisp of magic to extinguish the fire—as well as remove any remnants of smoke from her hands. Then she followed Bayley back to the others, doing her best not to look at Seth too often. She could tell his bonds were digging into his wrists—someone had already freed his ankles—but the pain didn't show on his face; his expression was so bland that if his eyes weren't open, Bex would have thought he was asleep. "What did I miss?" It was a jab and she knew it, but if she didn't get some of the bitterness out of her system, it was only going to fester and make her say something worse later on.

"Nothing," Sasha snarled, "because the coward wouldn't talk without you present." Then she crouched down, putting her face inches from Seth's. "Happy now?"

"I'll be happier when I'm back with my brother and I know he's safe," Seth replied, strangely serene. "But this is a start." He rose when Charlotte tugged on his arms and followed orders without complaint, even starting to wade into the river without being asked. "Or did you want to levitate me from the bank? I'm not sure which is easier for you."

Charlotte and Sasha shared a look. "Stop there," Charlotte commanded. Before she even finished speaking, Seth was starting to ascend, glancing down at his feet with a mixture of wonder and worry. Once he was up high enough, Charlotte nodded at Sasha. "Where do you want him to be?"

"At the bottom of the ocean, if I had my way." Sasha's hard gaze slid to Bex briefly before adding, "But around the middle will do. It's the deepest, and that's where the sharpest rocks are."

The air-archer obliged, floating Seth into place. "Here?"

"That's good." Sasha stepped to the very edge of the bank, letting her bare feet touch the water. "Let's try this again. Where is the Skull—"

"Why did Dean leave?" Bex blurted, stepping forward. She could feel the surprise and confusion in the gazes of her sisters, but she thought a different line of questioning might catch Seth off guard. Judging from his expression, she was right; his calm veneer had cracked and the closest he could manage was a vague strain along his jaw. "You claim to be brothers, but you also said love made him stronger. Did someone help him break his bond?"

Charlotte's face pinched in confusion, but Bayley gripped her hand to stop her from interrupting. "Let her try," she whispered. "It could work."

Seth kept his gaze on Bex, though she wasn't sure if it was because she was a fellow fire-forger or he simply didn't want to look down at his impending fate. "He fell in love with a bard. She helped him break the spell. It put more of the burden on Roman and me—me especially. Roman has a family—a wife, children. I didn't want him to suffer more than he already was."

Sasha muttered something about suffering under her breath, then raised her voice to say, "Well, Paige was right about something, I suppose."

"If Roman has a family, why don't they help him break his bonds?" Bex didn't dare ask why no one helped Seth with his. "Or is it that you two don't really want to leave?" Something sparked in Seth's eyes and for a moment, Bex regretted the question, but she knew she couldn't let up. "Why did you leave that skull by the waterfall?"

"Hunter—the Skull King—he . . . makes me burn the bodies of those he defeats in battle, and then he takes the skeletons as trophies. The dungeon in his castle is lined with the skulls of his enemies."

Charlotte grimaced a bit. "Queen Stephanie must be thrilled."

It was meant as a glib comment, but Seth caught it. "Stephanie and her family don't care about the means, only the end result. She has a daughter almost the same age as Roman's and it doesn't sway her heart at all. As long as Hunter gets her the land she wants, she doesn't pay much attention to how he does it."

The Four Horsewomen suspected as much, but it was still uncomfortable to hear. "So that skull is one of his trophies? Why bring it to us? If you came to get it back," Bayley said, "we don't have it—" When Sasha shot her a dark look, Bayley swore. "I wasn't going to tell him where it was!"

"That skull is the exception—the trophy of a friend. His best friend. Shawn was his brother the way Roman is mine—the way you're sisters to each other. But when Shawn decided he couldn't stay on the path of destruction, Hunter killed him in a fit of anger." Seth's voice had dropped so slow it was hard to hear over their breathing and the gentle babble of the river.

Charlotte didn't seem impressed. "So what were we supposed to do with it? Hold it for ransom?"

Sasha edged closer, sending a splash of water up against his dangling feet. "Can he use it to track us?" she demanded. "What power does it have?"

Seth shook his head carefully, not wanting to disturb his balance or give Charlotte a reason to drop him. "Only power over his heart. He wants to resurrect Shawn, and he thinks if he has a full complement of elementals, he'll be able to. The villages, the killings: that's all secondary. Yes, Stephanie wants the land, but Hunter wants you. The four of you."

It was a possibility the Four Horsewomen had all considered, but hearing it from someone so close to the Skull King made it all too real. "Then why did he let Dean go?" Charlotte asked. "I'm guessing he had an affinity—and you're not going to tell us which, of course—so rather than come after us, why didn't the Skull King try to get Dean back and then find a fourth?"

Pride steeled Seth's jaw, and Bex felt a smile tug at her lips. They might be drastically different, but she could tell he had the same spark in his soul. "He tried to make us. We wouldn't. Roman and I both miss Dean and would do anything to have him back as a brother, but he doesn't deserve this kind of life. He deserves better. So when the bard said she could free him, of course we helped."

The confession seemed to mollify the other three Horsewomen somewhat, though Sasha still had her arms crossed over her chest. "But it would be okay to condemn us to a life of servitude?" she asked, lip curling in disdain.

"The Skull King threatened Roman's family." Seth's gaze rose to the stars. "I—I don't have that kind of bond. My family feared my magic, so I left home long ago; as far as they're concerned, they probably think I died in battle. There's no one Hunter can use to hurt me, but I can't let him hurt Roman's wife and children, not if I can help it."

"Admirable, I suppose," Charlotte remarked, "for a murderer."

Seth ignored the jab and focussed on Bex instead. "Where did you put the skull? Is it still intact?"

Sasha stepped in front of Bex, blocking her view. "You answer the questions, not ask them. Why did you leave the skull for us? Did you actually think we were going to help that monster?"

"I gave it to you so you could keep it from him!" Seth spat, his calm finally breaking. "You aren't the only elementals, you know, and there are some with far looser morals than yours. It's only a matter of time before he finds a complete set of elementals either willing to help him or that can be forced to. But the skull is the key. He could replace a finger or a knee, maybe even a whole limb, but without the skull, it won't be Shawn."

"Where's your horse?" Charlotte said suddenly, taking even her Horsewomen sisters by surprise with the seemingly random question. "You couldn't have gotten here so quickly on foot."

Seth started to motion behind him, but then thought better of it as he wobbled in the air. "I left him tied to a tree on my side of the river," he replied. "If . . . if you kill me, at least free him."

Bayley looked as shocked as if he had set her hair on fire. "We aren't _monsters_."

Rolling her eyes, Charlotte steadied the air around Seth, giving him a bit of a reprieve. "And how exactly are we supposed to keep the skull from him? He has an earth-etcher, so if we bury it, he can find it. He has you, so we can't burn it. Am I supposed to launch it into the sun? Is Sasha supposed to plunge it to the depths of the sea?"

"I don't know!" Now that his calm had broken, Seth was shaking. "I only know that Shawn deserves better, and if Hunter's able to resurrect Shawn, he won't stop there. Shawn's remains shouldn't be dishonoured," he added, breath catching, "but if it's between that and Hunter resurrecting masses of people on a whim, I think I know what Shawn himself would choose." He met Sasha's gaze reluctantly. "You said it was buried. Is it safe?"

Charlotte and Bayley both raised their eyebrows at Sasha, and Bex was glad to be free of the scrutiny for a while. "You told him?" Charlotte said. "Did you draw him a map too?"

"No!" Sasha gestured all around them. "For all he knows, I'm standing on the damn thing!" She and Charlotte glared at each other for almost a minute before Sasha relented. "Fine. Bring him down."

"Stay still," Charlotte warned Seth as she brought him over land once more and slowly lowered him. Once his feet touched the ground, his knees almost gave way with relief. "We're not telling you where the skull is or what we've done to it." Bayley frowned a bit at that, but Charlotte gave her a sharp look. "We'll take you to your horse and see you on your way, but if you expect us to try thwarting the Skull King, you need to keep him away from our villages and our people. We need time to prepare."

Bex wasn't sure what Charlotte was planning, so she stayed quiet. At moments like these, solidarity was paramount; clarity and debate came later. "He already has you and Roman," she said slowly. "Why doesn't he just look for an air-archer and a water-weaver? Why come for a group he knows isn't likely to kneel to him?"

A flash of insecurity rippled through Seth's gaze, leaving bitterness in its wake. "We're not strong enough. At least I'm not. The incantation he found is . . . intricate. He doesn't think I can do it."

The Four Horsewomen shared a look. Judging from the fires they had seen and heard about raging in the south, Seth's powers seemed more than adequate. "Or he just wants a bonded set to save himself the trouble," Sasha pointed out, "and to destroy when he's done, leaving his precious Shield intact."

"Let's get him on his way." Bex felt her heart twinge a bit when Seth shot her a wounded look. "The sooner he returns, the less suspicious it'll look. The Skull King is probably on his way already, but maybe we can spare a few villages from his wrath."

Charlotte led the way, holding Seth's at arm's length ahead of her as they approached the bridge. One by one the other Horsewomen followed, Bex in the rear after casting a quick containment spell on the campfire so it didn't wander while unattended. Bayley dashed ahead, untying the horse from the tree at the edge of the woods and soothing it in gentle tones while she stroked his neck. "I would clear the paths for you," she said, "but I don't want to leave any magic for the Skull King to trace."

"I understand." Seth waited until they were all out of the woods before getting on his horse and meeting their gazes one by one, lingering on Bex. "I understand if you don't trust me. I understand that I've done things beyond forgiveness. But I hope _you_ understand that I'm trying to stop a catastrophe. If it's the last thing I do—if it's the only thing left for me to do—then at least I started to change the tide."

"Go," Charlotte said simply. "We'll consider what you've said." The Four Horsewomen fell silent as they watched him head south. As soon as the darkness had swallowed him whole, Bayley stepped forward and quietly cast a ward around the forest so they would be alerted if he tried to return.

Bex hoped Roman was okay, but didn't say so aloud. The thought of anyone torturing one of her sisters was harrowing, and she could still feel Seth's worry clinging to her like a spider's web. "We can't go back there," she said softly. "Not so soon. It . . . it could a trap and there could be people lying in wait to see which way we go."

"The only place we're going tonight is back to camp," Charlotte said firmly. "We weren't going to get much more out of him. He's too scared—maybe not for himself, but for his brother. I . . . I can respect that." She pulled Bex in close and rested her chin on the fire-forger's head. "I also respect sleep, and damn, do I need some."

"We all do. And from now on," Sasha declared, looking at Bex first before the others, "no one goes off alone anymore. Not for any reason. That's twice he's managed to sneak up on us now. I don't think we would have been so fortunate if it had been the earth-etcher instead."

Bex tried not to let the barb bother her as they walked back to their camp. "We don't know what spells he might have cast before . . . before I saw him," she said hesitantly, "so we probably shouldn't discuss details at camp. Let's wait until we're riding home tomorrow. Charlotte can guard the air so we can speak freely."

"Good idea." A strained sombreness fell over the Horsewomen as they returned to camp and checked that nothing was taken or out of place, and Charlotte sent a brief cleansing breeze through the rea to dispel the lingering animosity.

Too pent up to sleep, Bex stationed herself by the fire. "I'll take first watch."

"Second," Bayley piped up quickly, settling near Bex and giving her a pointed look. They both stayed quiet until they heard gentle breathing and low snores, though, with Charlotte stretched out to her full impressive height and Sasha curled up into a ball. The nocturnal sounds were so soothing that Bex almost jumped when Bayley tapped her knee. "What was it like?" Bayley whispered. "Talking with another person . . . like you. Was it nice?"

Bex glanced down at Bayley and ruffled her hair. Just as Bayley was the only other one to understand the subtle terror of seeing your magic twisted and torturous, so too was she the only one who could fathom the undeniable pull to someone who shared your power. "I guess. We didn't get to say much. He asked about the skull and then Sasha arrived, but . . . I think it would have been nice. I know you three understand what it's like to have magic," she added, "but he knows what it's like to _burn_ , just like Roman would know what it's like to be buried." It made Bex wonder what Dean's gift had been. He must have had one for the Skull King to have taken such a special interest in him and to place him in The Shield, but she didn't know enough about him to guess whether he commanded air or water. Perhaps it was neither; maybe he had a different magic entirely, or a more general power, like Asuka.

Bayley nestled closer, resting her head on Bex's leg. "He said Roman has a family. He looked young, though. That must be scary, knowing the people you love are at the whims of the Skull King. I don't agree with what they're doing, but . . . I understand. If I had kids, I would do anything to protect them."

"One day you will," Bex said softly, "if that's what you want." The future was a nebulous place for any warrior, a far-flung dream that might never come to be. For the Four Horsewomen, it had almost been a forbidden topic. Charlotte hated discussing her obligations to her father's realm. The spectre of returning to Ireland both heartened and haunted Bex. Bayley was too busy avoiding her tragic past to look too far ahead in the opposite direction; she tried to focus on the day she was in, the moment she was living. Sasha's family had been too fractured for her to have much faith in creating another one. They were all broken bits that they had tried joining into a new whole, doing their best to ignore the sharp edges and awkward fits. But now they needed to be more unified than ever, and as she felt the ghost of Seth's fire-snake along her hand, Bex couldn't help but feel more and more removed.


	15. Chapter 15

"Did you get any sleep last night?" The words landed in Bex's ears mere seconds before Sasha rode up beside her. The Four Horsewomen were on the final stretch home and it was a section that could easily get monotonous because of the flat terrain, so they made sure to ride in pairs and switch positions often to keep their minds fresh and alert.

Bex decided to play coy, hoping it would help her mind stay sharp. "I had the first watch," she remarked. "I probably got the most solid sleep out of all of us because it wasn't broken."

Sasha snorted, then patted her horse's neck when its gait stuttered a bit. "Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse you." Then she angled close enough to Bex to smack her leg in reproof. "You know what I mean. Yes, you had first watch and Bayley had second, but she was talking with you all through yours, and you were probably still awake during hers." The river they had camped beside was far behind them, but Sasha still looked back out of habit, checking to see that they weren't being followed. "We can't afford to be taken unawares right now, Bex. You know that."

"Did Bayley get this lecture too?" Bex replied, rubbing at her face. "Or has the shunning from yesterday carried over to today?" She turned just enough to meet Sasha's gaze. "Yes, Bayley stayed up during my watch and I kept her company during hers. All of us have done that for each other at some point. Why is it suddenly a crime now?"

"Because The Shield could be following us!" Sasha hissed. For whatever reason, she didn't seem to want Charlotte and Bayley overhearing their disagreement, which Bex found odd. "The earth is rougher here, rockier so close to the sea. Their earth-etcher could create a rift or an upheaval—"

"So could Bayley." Bex had to pause before she said it and she hesitated afterwards as well. She didn't want to think ill of Bayley—of any of her sisters—but it was a valid point. Just because the Horsewomen had always used their magic for good, or at least their estimation of it, didn't mean they lacked the potential to go down another path.

Sasha's eyes went wide. "Bayley would never." She hesitated a split second too long before adding, "You would never. That's not who you—either of you—are."

"Maybe that's not who Seth and Roman are either," Bex replied. "Or at least not who they were. If Roman is doing this to protect his family, like Seth said, the fear of losing a spouse or child can make someone do despicable things."

The water-weaver nodded, but she was clearly unhappy about the logic. "We make each other better," she said softly. "And we make each other strong."

"And we don't have someone like the Skull King threatening people we love." Bex sighed and fell quiet for a while, relaxing into her horse's rhythm and the comfortable presence of Sasha beside her. "Yes, Bayley and I stayed up together," she repeated. "We were talking about what it was like to encounter someone else with our powers. How it's scary and alluring all at once. How you want to ask them questions even though you know the horrors they've committed. Because maybe when you hear about how they became monsters, you'll be better able to avoid it yourself." She kept her gaze on Bayley up ahead; she and Charlotte seemed to be talking amicably and Bex hoped Bayley wasn't overly tired because of their late-night talk. "Because right now, she and I are the only two of us who share those feelings, for better or worse." Glancing over, she saw a hint of contrition in Sasha's eyes and added, "It wasn't meant to exclude you or Charlotte. Bayley just knew I was feeling a bit isolated and wanted me to know she understood."

The last sentiment made Sasha snap to attention. "Isolated? Why would you feel isolated? Charlotte and Bayley and I have been with you this entire time, except when we had to escape from the Skull King, and then it was you and me—"

"You and me and an undercurrent of accusations," Bex corrected, loosening her grip on her reins when her horse started to get nervous. The Horsewomen's horses weren't magical, as far as they knew, but they had become very attuned to the moods of their riders. Gifts from Paige, the horses were both fast and sturdy, as much a part of their group as the women themselves. "And then I found the skull in the fire and there were more accusations. Then Seth came to me in the river—"

"Okay, okay, I see your point." Sasha held up a hand for silence, then used it to squeeze Bex's arm. "I'm sorry. I never thought about how it must feel for you. We were just worried that he would . . . be able to connect with you in some way. And not you specifically," Sasha added swiftly, "but as a fire-forger. Same with Bayley and Roman, or Charlotte and another air-archer. . . ."

"Or you and a water-weaver," Bex finished. "I know. I know what you guys meant and I even agree with the logic, but that doesn't mean it didn't make me feel like shit. You should know by now that I would never willingly do anything to harm any of you."

"I know." It was difficult to hug while on horses that were moving, so Sasha settled for reaching out and squeezing Bex's hand. "I just worry about my sisters, okay?" Her smile was shaky, but Bex was glad to see the attempt. "You know what family means to me and why, and you know that when I say you're my sister, it's not just a title. I mean it, Bex. For you and Charlotte and Bayley. I mean it with every drop of the oceans and the seas."

Bex nodded. That fierce devotion could lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications, but she didn't know anyone who felt as deeply as Sasha. "I promise you that the instant I feel anything wrong with my magic or any . . . sense of Seth, I will let you all know. As long as you promise me that you won't keep excluding me just because you're afraid I could be . . . corrupted or something."

"Are you sleeping back there or something?" Charlotte bellowed, making both Bex and Sasha startle. "Hurry up! We're only about an hour away!"

Sasha and Bex nudged their horses and closed the gap between them and Charlotte and Bayley easily, and the conversation turned to more pleasant things, like being able to sleep in their own beds again—a rare pleasure they had barely been able to enjoy before they set out to examine the Skull King's depredations for themselves—and being able to visit the Three Kingdoms with no purpose in mind other than reconnecting with their friends. Their coastal settlement was just coming into view when they saw a shape moving towards them. "One person on horseback," Bayley said, hopping down off her horse to touch the earth and listen to its knowledge. "Female. Friend." Then she cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Loud?"

Sasha shut her eyes. "Please not Nikki of the Cross." The shimmer of the ocean was just visible, but they wouldn't be able to see the docks yet from where they were. "Please let it just be Natalya or something, excited about the newest litter of kittens. Even Asuka. . . ."

Bayley shot her an apologetic look as she stood and got back on her horse. "It's Nikki," she reported. "So I'm guessing that means Drew's ships are here, at least. Finn's could take longer. And Paige—"

"Paige will help if she can," Bex insisted, urging her horse forward to meet Nikki's. She knew the young knight was excitable and sometimes hard to bear, but she had a good spirit and Bex didn't want her to be discouraged by a less-than-enthusiastic welcome from Sasha. "Nikki!" she called out as she got closer. "IHow nice to see a friendly face so close to home!"

"Bex!" Nikki brought her horse to a halt in front of the fire-forger. "We arrived days ago and were wondering where you were, but the witchy one—Asuka?—said that you had gone out to see what that wretched Skull King had done and would be back soon. More refugees have come since we got here and we've been listening to their stories and practicing sword play with people and King Drew himself gave me permission to ride with you!" Nikki's grin was as wide and bright as the ocean. "He said I'm to heed your commands as his own," she added proudly, straightening up in her saddle, "so consider me at your service!"

By that time, Bayley, Charlotte, and Sasha had caught up and the water-weaver had at least schooled her face into general weariness which could be explained away by the long day on horseback. "We owe King Drew much," Bex replied, motioning for them all to keep heading towards the settlement. "Have any ships from Ireland arrived yet? Or England?" She knew her sisters doubted Paige—she had her own reservations, even though she didn't like to admit it—but she was hoping the English queen wouldn't let them down.

Nikki gave them a sly look. "Oh, you've got a whole mess of people waiting for you! Hope none of you were hoping to sleep any time soon, because there's a whole lot of people wanting to talk with you and tell you what they know and what they've seen and. . . ." The Four Horsewomen were quiet as they listened to Nikki on the ride in, even managing to glean some useful information from her often rambling explanations.

Mercifully, Asuka was waiting at the entrance to the settlement, wearing a stern expression. "So much magic," she sniffed, waving her hands as if dispersing a cloud of dust. "Too much magic drifting around these days. I will check you before you go in to make sure you're not bringing in any clinging shadows with you."

Assuming 'clinging shadows' had some magical meaning, Bex shrugged and leapt down off her horse, handing the reins to one of the young stable workers, motioning for her sisters to do the same. "Nikki, would you please go help with the horses? Drew always speaks so highly of how you take care of his, so I would appreciate it if you could share your knowledge here." The compliment made Nikki beam, and she happily accompanied the young workers, speaking rapidly about the best fabrics to use so as not to irritate the horses. Bex sighed and gave herself a moment before addressing Asuka. "Were there any problems while we were away?" she asked as Asuka moved around her in strange undulating circles, waving her hands madly and chanting something that sounded vaguely like the clash of swords.

Asuka motioned to the docks, barely visible from where they were, and all the ships there. "So busy. So many mouths to feed. So many beds to find. We need to build a bigger village for them all." Then she leaned close. "And the one king is _so tall!_ "

Since Finn wasn't much taller than Charlotte, Bex assumed Asuka was talking about the Scottish king. "Drew came? But what about his throne?"

Drew emerged from a building just then, carrying two huge armfuls of wood. "My queen is more than capable of ruling in my stead," he called out as he passed, grinning broadly. "You only ever get one good chance to vanquish men like the Skull King, so I want to make sure we defeat him soundly the first time."

After another circuit around the fire-forger, Asuka deemed Bex safe to proceed. She didn't take as long with Bayley, but hesitated when she came to Sasha, clawing at the air like a cat. "Your magic is all streaky," she said, making even more exaggerated motions as she moved around the water-weaver.

"Streaky? What? What is she talking about?" Sasha kept moving in a circle as Asuka moved around her, unwilling to turn her back on the eccentric sorceress. When Asuka slapped the air close to Sasha's ears several times, Sasha looked to Bex for help. "What is she _doing?_ "

Charlotte was doing her best not to laugh as she waited for her turn. "Maybe it's your hair. You've been in a lot of strange rivers lately. . . ."

Narrowing her eyes at Charlotte, Sasha forced herself to stand still and not watch Asuka's rites. "Are you done yet?"

"Negativity doesn't help," Asuka said sweetly, fanning the air in front of Sasha's face before starting another circuit. It was hard to tell how many of the sorceress's actions were steeped in magic and how many were done simply to annoy Sasha. Eventually she waved Sasha away and went to Charlotte, who took even less time than Bayley had. "Go to the mead hall," she said at last, giving a small bow. "I will check the horses and then join you."

"Don't rush," Sasha muttered under her breath as the Four Horsewomen headed towards the mead hall. Normally they were warmly welcomed whenever they returned, but the villagers could clearly see that they meant business, because no one waylaid them; even the children, who always wanted to hear new stories from far away places, gave them a wide berth. "This feels so strange," Sasha remarked as they walked. "We've had peace for so long that it's like no one knows what to do."

"We've held our lands without many challengers for a while now," Charlotte agreed. "Let's hope that doesn't mean we've become complacent." She pushed open the door to the mead hall and gestured the other three Horsewomen in before her. While her size meant she made an impressive entrance, it was also a powerful closing note.

Most of the mead hall's windows were shuttered, so it was oddly dim for the time of day. The only illumination came from the huge central fire, and the handful of people inside were far enough away from the flames that they were hard to identify. "We were starting to wonder if you had forgotten we were coming and decided to start the festivities yourselves." Finn's sly lilt was a welcome sound and Bex hurried over to hug him. He knew about her early struggles as a fire-forger and she desperately wanted his advice for her current predicament, but she knew that would have to wait. "Did you at least save us a piece of the tyrant?"

"More than a piece," Bex promised. "Things are . . . very complicated. But we're very glad to see you. Have Asuka and Natalya been making sure you're treated well and have everything you need? What are you and Drew even doing here? You have thrones to worry about!"

"So do I, thank you." The voice was rich and teasing, and Bex turned to see Paige rise from a bench, not even setting down her mead when she went to give the fire-forger a hug. "But we all have heirs, blood or no, and advisors we trust. Hopefully we'll be able to deal with the Skull King and get home before we're even missed," she added, raising her mug in a toast.

"Not likely." 

Bex hadn't expected to hear Finn or Paige's voice, but this one was completely new to her, and she could feel her Horsewomen sisters turn as one with her. The speaker had been sitting at the same table as Paige, beside a woman with delicate features and keen eyes. The man's hands were curled around his mead cup, but Bex could see enough of his wrist to notice a tangle of scars there, old but still red and angry. The strange pattern reminded her of the cuff she had seen on Seth's wrist, the story he told of how his brother had broken free. 

And now he was here—in her village, her mead hall, meeting her gaze with a hint of drunken amusement. Dean, the former third member of The Shield.


	16. Chapter 16

"Dean?" Just as with Seth, Bex felt strange using his name, but since he was estranged from The Shield—she wasn't sure anyone could truly leave such a unit—it felt slightly more natural. Paige's eyebrows rose in surprise, but Finn only nodded slightly.

Dean nodded as well, and the woman at his side squeezed his arm in support. "So at least one of my brothers remembers me. That's good to know. Which one was it? Seth or Roman?" Before any of the Horsewomen could reply, he added, "The brooding one or the tall one?"

"Seth," Bex replied. Finn had quietly poured mead for the Four Horsewomen and set their mugs on the table, and she thanked him before turning back to Dean. "He said—"

"You're fire," Dean said brusquely. The woman beside him grimaced a bit at his interruption, but it hadn't seemed rude somehow. He gestured at Becky's unnaturally orange hair. "Seth's hair never did that, but Hunter had found some legend that said it was the mark of a skilled fire-forger." Then his gaze moved to Bayley. "Earth. You have a sense of gravity just like Roman does. Did." He blinked rapidly, a hint of sorrow seeping into his voice. No matter how much he might have hated the Skull King, it was clear that he had loved his Shield brothers. He looked back and forth between Sasha and Charlotte for a minute before settling on the water-weaver. "Water," he declared. "You feel like high tide." Smiling, he turned to Charlotte. "That makes you air."

Before Charlotte could protest—there were other affinities, after all, though they were even rarer—a gentle breeze ruffled her hair, and only hers. Bex and Bayley both watched the realization dawn on her face, the feeling of kinship they had both experienced. "You are too? I've never met another—"

"Not surprised. We're rare. We all are. I've only met one other air-archer before you, and that was when I was a kid. Seth was the first fire-forger I met and Roman the first earth-etcher." Dean met Sasha's gaze again and gave her an approving nod. "Met a few more like you," he added, "but none as fluid."

Sasha accepted the compliment with a deep nod before gesturing at the woman. "And this is the bard? The one who helped you break free?"

The woman smiled wryly. "The story changes a bit each time he tells it, as the best stories do. But yes, I'm the bard. Or at least I was. The Skull King has made it harder for me to tell my stories, so I have to be careful about where I go and who's listening." She rose and gave a small bow. "My name's Renee. Paige has told us all about you."

Paige resumed her seat, smiling smugly. "They've been taking refuge in England for months now. I didn't say anything at the summit because I didn't want to put them at risk, but as soon as I returned home and started readying my knights, Dean asked what was going on."

"And then my fool of a husband decided to jump back into the fray." Renee said the admonishment with absolute warmth and affection, and it drew Bex's gaze to her hand, where she wore a strangely wrought ring. Renee noticed her looking and smiled. "Yes, we used some of the rings from his thrall bracelet to fashion it. I was against it at first, but Dean insisted."

Dean leaned over and kissed her cheek, shutting his eyes for a moment. "Now I get to choose to give my allegiance every day, and I'm lucky that she accepts it. That's the difference. Every minute I spend with her is a choice and a chance and a blessing." He idly traced some of the scars on his wrist. "I'll never be free of these and I can't ever change that, but I could change what those rings would mean to me. Now, they mean choice. She chose me and I chose her."

Renee rested her head against his shoulder. "I'll be honest. I didn't want him to come back. I'm worried the Skull King will be able to tangle his magic up again. But this is about more than us. Paige told us about the villages, and even just being here for a few days, hearing the stories from the refugees, I know Dean was right. Hunter has to be stopped. When I was his bard, I knew some of what he and Queen Stephanie had done and I did nothing about it." She pursed her lips and looked away. "I'm not proud of that, but I want to be honest. For a long time, I looked away and I ignored things and when it came time to craft his stories for the mead halls, I . . . I made myself pretend it was all made up. Just exaggeration meant to bolster his reputation. Then once I started seeing some of the battlefields for myself, I knew how real it was—how little he cared for the lost and the dead. He didn't want stories of his deeds for glory. He wanted them to sow fear."

The Four Horsewomen settled at the table, reaching for some of the food that remained rather than calling for more. "When you were with The Shield," Bayley asked slowly, "did the Skull King ever try to find a water-weaver?"

"Of course. And he did find some, but none as powerful as he wanted." Dean pointed to Sasha again. "Definitely none as strong as her. Is that what he claims to be doing now?"

Bex and Charlotte exchanged a look. Dean was clearly willing to fight against his brothers to defeat the Skull King, but that didn't mean he wasn't still fond of them; telling him they had captured Seth and questioned him might not gain his favour. "Seth said he wants a set of four elementals because he's trying to resurrect someone."

Even during the bleakest parts of his admittedly brief confession, Dean had seemed almost blase, as if the past, no matter how grim, meant little to him anymore. Now he paled a bit and he set down his mug as his hands started to shake. "Resurrection," he muttered softly. "That bastard. Of course he would." Then he shook his head, staring up at the high ceiling for a moment as if he could see straight through to the sun. "Who is he trying to bring back?"

"Someone named Shawn," Charlotte answered, "but it sounds like that's just the beginning."

Dean scoffed and shook his head. "Of course. The bastard kills Shawn over a disagreement and then damn near blames it on him—says the man broke his heart. I'd say I'm surprised Stephanie's agreeing to this, but she probably has her own reasons."

"Resurrection is the ultimate power," Finn remarked. He had been so quiet, Bex almost forgot he was there. "If they gain that, they can bring entire countries to their knees. How many kings would give anything for the return of a slain son? If the Skull King can offer that in exchange for absolute fealty and allegiance, he'll have the run of the continent before winter."

"And it's not like we can just hide all the elementals," Bex added. They were already few in number, but because they were so persecuted in some places, most endeavoured to keep a low profile; some stopped using their magic entirely, preferring to suffer the spirit-sickness that resulted from lack of magic use to the punishments they would likely receive if they were caught.

"They would need to be strong," Renee offered. "Incredibly strong. I saw some of the spells he wanted to cast and they take an immense amount of power and skill. Of course, that wouldn't stop Hunter from testing them first and killing them in the process, but it would mean he wouldn't be successful."

The Skull King also wasn't likely to succeed without Shawn's skull either, but none of the Horsewomen mentioned that. Bex still wanted Asuka to examine the relic, just in case Seth's story wasn't true, but listening to Dean and Renee had banished most of her doubts. "Can you remember any of the spell? The ingredients or instructions or . . . anything that would be helpful?"

Renee thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Not much. He had such a vast collection of spells, and I only got small glimpses. He would need the body, I would guess, or at least the head. Pure elements, probably: water from the top of a mountain, soil that had never been used to grow anything, that sort of thing."

More and more it looked like the Skull King's quest would be impossible to achieve, but that wasn't as reassuring as it should have been. Hunter wasn't the type to stop until he got what he had wanted; if resurrection eluded him, he would just make everyone else around him suffer. "Then we'll just have to make sure he doesn't get an air-archer or a water-weaver," Sasha declared.

Bex expected Dean to speak up on his brothers' behalf, to advocate for their freedom, but he stayed silent, looking only at Renee. He had made his choice, as he kept saying, and it might not have had any room for Seth and Roman any longer.


	17. Chapter 17

The morning had started out with Bex being tired and the fatigue had only increased throughout the day, so she supposed it was fitting that it ended with near exhaustion. Asuka had joined the group in the mead hall as well as Sheamus, and the assembled leaders spent hours discussing strategy. With such strong personalities at play, it was more arguing than discussing at times, but the power and the passionate opinions meant that they didn't waste much time worrying about diplomacy. The Skull King certainly wouldn't be, and while they didn't want to sink to his level, even the most kind-hearted among them had to admit that they needed to be ready—and more importantly, willing—to be ruthless.

The other Horsewomen had staggered off to their beds and Bex was almost on her way. She only had to enchant the fire in the mead hall so it burned through the night without straying. When she sensed a familiar presence behind her, however, she knew she wasn't going to see her bed for a while. "The bonfires back home aren't the same without you," Finn said, walking up beside her. "We all got spoiled by their beauty."

Bex laughed. "Save the sweet words for your Veronica." After blowing a kiss into the flames, she stepped back and hugged him. "To what do we owe the honour, Your Majesty? You should be at home on your throne, at the very least, or headed south to confirm your alliances with Veronica." Her eyebrows lifted as she said _alliances_ and though it was hard to tell by firelight, she was sure she saw a slight blush settle under Finn's cheekbones.

"I trust Finlay. He's a good representative and Vero's already met him." Finn pursed his lips for a moment. "I sent along a letter. She'll understand why I didn't go to her. There's too much at stake right now, and if anything would happen to you while I was indulging myself. . . ."

Giving Finn's cheek a gentle slap, Bex nudged him towards the mead hall door. Most of Finn's warriors and Drew's knights would be sleeping in there, and she didn't want to delay them any longer, not when there was no much training and preparation to be done. "I can take care of myself. And I have three fierce sisters at my side."

Finn shook his head. "Bravado and magic aren't going to be enough to defeat him, Bex. The Skull King is too focussed. Sheamus fought him years ago and barely left with his life, and that was over a trifle. If this is about some sort of redemption quest and resurrecting his best friend, the Skull King will be at his most dangerous." He nodded at his warriors as they filed into the mead hall, looking tired but satisfied. They meshed well with Drew's knights and Paige's, and had been pleasantly surprised by the hardiness of the villagers. "We're going for a walk along the coast," he told one of his most trusted warriors as he and Bex stepped out. "We won't be long, but if you need us, look to the west."

The warrior gave a curt nod before turning to his fellow fighters and starting to give instructions. Bex watched them all for a moment, Scottish and Irish and English alike, united by a common enemy. "We're walking, are we?" she asked teasingly, bumping Finn with her shoulder.

"I'm still your king," Finn grinned. "Don't forget that." Then he sobered somewhat, gently steering Bex through the village down to the shore. For safety, they had small torches blazing through the night, marking the periphery of the village in case any children wandered into the dark. "I should have summoned you home. You could have been my captain and had your pick of warriors for your—"

"I'm not built for that and you know it. I would have left as soon as I could, and I never would have come back," Bex chided gently, "not even for this. I needed to find my own way, Finn. This might not be a kingdom, but it's mine. I earned it and I keep it through my strength—with my sisters' strength. Maybe when I'm older, I could help train the next generation of warriors—if I'm still welcome, that is."

Finn pulled her close and kissed her forehead. "You'll always be welcome, Becca. Always." They both fell quiet as they stepped between two safety torches and headed towards the rocky shore. For a moment, it looked like the Irish king wanted to walk to the end of one of the docks and stare out at the night-dark sea, but he turned west as promised. It would have been impossible to see Ireland from there even if the sun had been at its zenith, but Bex understood its pull. "Are you okay?"

It wasn't the question Bex was expecting and he had spoken so quietly that she wasn't sure she hadn't imagined it. "What do you mean?" she said. It was a safe reply to many questions, she had found, even if it made the person asking think you were a fool.

"It sounded like you've had a few confrontations with the Skull King's fire-forger. His name is Seth, right?" When Bex nodded, Finn hooked an arm around her shoulders. "That must have been hard, seeing your gift used in such a poisonous way."

Bex sighed. She didn't want to think about Seth any further, at least not so close to when she was going to sleep. "It was really only twice. I saved Sasha back at the river, and . . . I wasn't really thinking then. I just knew I had to get her to safety. I didn't see him at all at the waterfall; it was only the fire." The Horsewomen were still keeping the golden skull a secret for the time being, especially since Dean was now involved. He might have been out of the Skull King's control for a while, but he still cared deeply about his brothers, so it was entirely possible that he might do something to help them—something which might doom everyone else. "It was really just at our last camp. . . ."

"And how did it feel?" There was no accusation in his tone, just simple curiosity, but Finn still elaborated as they strolled, matching their pace to the steady lapping of the ocean. "We all saw how Charlotte reacted to Dean. Once they got talking, there was an obvious connection. It wasn't romantic or sexual; it was something else, something more."

Bex took a moment to answer. Though most of the day had been devoted to strategy, they had all split up into smaller groups at times, and one of those had been Charlotte and Dean. Renee hadn't looked worried in the least; she had simply kissed Dean and left him alone with Charlotte to talk, and the two air-archers started a conversation so engaged and animated that Bex almost felt a bit jealous. "Good," she hedged, "in a way."

She didn't trust herself to say more. It might not have been sexual between Charlotte and Dean—perhaps because Renee was there, perhaps not—but Bex had definitely felt something. If the fire-snake had been any indication, Seth had as well. She had hoped it was just the nature of fire itself, the way two separate flames so easily merged into one, but that wouldn't make it any better.

"When you're different," Finn replied, "you will always be drawn to someone who's the same as you. That's not a bad thing, Bex. Just because he's done horrible things doesn't mean you will. It also doesn't necessarily mean he's horrible."

Bex almost tripped over her feet. Even knowing about the thrall bracelets and now seeing the scars of one on Dean's wrist, the other Horsewomen didn't seem inclined to offer much mercy to Seth. To hear even the slightest kindness extended to him felt like a vote of confidence in her. "He's killed people, Finn. By the hundreds. Burned down their homes, their villages, their crops. I know he's in thrall to the Skull King, but that doesn't change what he's done. Those people are still dead." Each accusation burned as it passed her lips, but she couldn't ignore the facts.

"I know. But if we want people to be better, we have to give them a chance to be better. For Seth and the earth-etcher—Roman, is it?—that means they have to be set free. What they do _then_ , when they're free and can acknowledge what they've done, will be a better measure of the men they are." Finn gestured back to the mead hall, now just a hint of a shape in the darkness. "Look at Dean. He's found love. He's found happiness. He's actively trying to help people defeat the Skull King. But that's because he's had the chance to show he's better than his past actions."

Looking back at the settlement, the buildings she had helped make, Bex felt a pang. Ireland would always be home. Wherever the Four Horsewomen were would always be home. But this was home too, and she wasn't sure she would be so quick to forgive someone who had burned it to the ground, even if they hadn't had a choice in the matter. "How would you feel if he had burned down your castle? Or Veronica's home? Would you be so forgiving then?" She looked around for a piece of wood to touch for luck, but since there was none on the shore, she settled for rapping her knuckles against Finn's head instead. "Touch wood," she added as he laughed.

Finn squeezed her shoulder then and gave her a bittersweet smile. "I wouldn't be, no. You're right. Distance does allow for a certain perspective. I just see what Dean is now and think that if Seth and Roman are capable of that sort of transformation, they need to have the chance. Elemental magic is so rare, Becca. So very rare. When I say it's a gift, that's not just lofty speech; it's a fact. Look how much good you and the other Horsewomen do in the world. They could do that too, and the world needs that. There will always be more men like the Skull King, and so we'll always need more exceptional people to stand against them."

"At this rate, there aren't many as it is." Without the sun, Bex felt the chill of the ocean more than ever and huddled closer to Finn. "I need to say something to get the words out of my head," she said simply. 

"I understand." Finn stopped and sat in the sand, pulling Bex close. "I won't hold it against you."

"I'm not sure I'll be able to fight him." All confessions were hard to make, but that was one of the most difficult and disappointing things Bex had ever admitted to. But she knew how important the battle to come would be, and while she didn't want to be excluded from it, she needed someone to know that her fortitude might fail when she needed it the most. "I want to. In some strange way, I want to be the one who bests him. I think I need that to prove to myself that I'm better—that I can be better. But when I try to envision defeating him, I . . . I can't. I always stop my sword from cutting or I step back. He's the only one of my kind I've met, Finn. I could learn so much. . . ."

"I know. I know." Finn held her silence for a long time, rocking gently with the sea breeze. "Life is cruel sometimes, isn't it? I don't know if Paige will agree with me and I'm fairly certain Drew won't, but I'm in favour of trying to free them. If that's not possible, if they're too much of a danger . . . then yes, I'll fight them to the end, hard as that will be."

Bex gazed out at the ocean, though the darkness stripped it of all but movement and sound. "Even if we get them free of the Skull King's influence, they'll need someone to bring them back from the brink. It sounds like Roman has a wife and children, so that connection will help him. I don't know about Seth."

"That's a problem for tomorrow." Then Finn laughed. "Good thing the future is long, because we certainly have enough problems to fill it." They stayed on the beach a while longer, enjoying the solitude and the lack of responsibility, and Bex conjured a guide-flame for their walk back. Once they reached the village, they parted ways and Bex crawled into her bed gratefully, though sleep was slow to descend. Her dreams were usually dominated by fire, but lately there had been a face behind them, beckoning her forward, and she worried that she was getting closer and closer to heeding the call.


	18. Chapter 18

For getting so little sleep, Bex felt suspiciously well rested. Perhaps it had been the heartening talk with Finn on the shore or just the knowledge that he believed in her—and, to some degree, in Seth, or at least his capacity for redemption. The days ahead would still be long ones, she knew, and she would need more sleep than she had been getting. Magic or not, she would be of no use to her friends and allies if she was delirious with exhaustion.

When she entered the mead hall for the morning meal, she half expected Charlotte to be gone, training with Dean. Charlotte was indeed absent, but Dean and Renee were both there, sitting near the fire, and the bard beckoned her over. "Good morning," she greeted Bex warmly. "We didn't get much of a chance to speak with you yesterday, at least not about anything other than strategy. Would you have time for a walk today? Maybe a ride, if you need to check the perimeter? I know this is such a busy time for everyone. . . ."

Dean ruffled Renee's hair as he finished his meal. The bard had taken more than she could eat and she offered her plate to Bex, who accepted it gratefully. "I want to ask you about my brothers," Dean said. His voice was flat, but there was nothing rude or confrontational about his tone; Bex suspected he didn't talk much and tried to keep his words to a minimum. "Sasha seems hostile and Bayley seems conflicted, and Charlotte just wants to talk about air-arching." He met her gaze with plain, pleading honesty. "I need to know how they are," he added in a low voice.

Bex noticed that he avoided most people's gazes, but she could understand why. Apparently the Four Horsewomen had been among the few who hadn't heard about The Shield: many of Finn's warriors and Paige's and Drew's knights knew of them, either by experience or reputation, and the fact that Dean had left the fold hadn't done much to improve their estimation of him. It wasn't an audience that would welcome favourable talk of Seth and Roman, at any rate. "I don't know much," she answered honestly, "so I won't be much help. But let me eat a bit and then we can go for a walk." She wasn't sure how much she ought to trust him, so a perimeter check might not be the best idea. A simple walk along the shore, though, should be safe enough. "If Charlotte's annoying you," she added, reverting to a topic safer to discuss while she ate, "just let me know and I'll talk to her. You know how rare our affinities are. She's just excited to meet someone she can learn from."

Dean's face contorted a bit, making Renee laugh and smack his arm. "She's not that bad, honestly," Renee answered. "Eager, but that's to be expected." Then she leaned across the table and mock whispered, "But he is too. He just hides it really well."

Bex raised an eyebrow. "Extremely well." For a moment, she wondered if she shouldn't have joked; she barely knew the couple, after all. But Renee laughed easily and Dean's mouth quirked in a wry smile, one she would come to know well. Once she had finished off the food from Renee's plate, she stood. "Since you're Paige's guest, I suppose I should find our resident queen and ask if she minds if we go off for a while." She figured it sounded more polite than asking if he had permission to leave the village.

Renee fully understood the implication and nodded as she rose. "I don't think she wants us to stray too far, for obvious reasons. If the Skull King is looking to complete his elemental set, anyone with an affinity for air or earth is a target right now. Charlotte and Sasha should be careful too."

"As long as we stay in the village, we should be safe." Bex always thought _village_ sounded inadequate for the settlement they had founded on the coast, but she wasn't sure what else to call it. It had all the basics, of course, but its land borders were surrounded by a defensive wall that wouldn't have been out of place around a small castle. "But we already have one monarch to worry about. No need to add another to the list."

The three of them found Paige conferring with her knights, and she glanced over at them with what Bex thought was affectionate exasperation. "I don't suppose you've thought of some way to . . . magic us out of a potential war, have you?"

"Not yet. But Dean and Renee and I were going off to have a talk," Bex replied, raising a pointed eyebrow at the English queen. "Unless we're needed for something."

Paige shook her head. "I'm sure Nikki will be able to find you if we need you in a hurry. She's uncanny, that one." Across the mock battlefield, Nikki of the Cross waved wildly at Bex, who returned the greeting somewhat more sedately. "Go on. This will probably be the only peace you get today," Paige added grimly, "so enjoy it."

Knowing Paige's words were sadly true, Bex led Dean and Renee to the docks. Under the light of day, somewhat dimmed by encroaching storm clouds, she could see all the English, Scottish, and Irish ships now. She couldn't remember ever having so many visiting vessels at once before, but somehow it felt like not nearly enough. "We can walk more inland, if you like," Bex offered quickly, "if you're sick of the sea."

Dean looked over at Renee with obvious affection. As gruff and distant as he was with others, in Renee's presence he seemed to shine. "She loves the ocean. And the cold. Reminds her of her home."

Renee's smile was a bit pinched, but it warmed when a brisk sea breeze—at Dean's urging, no doubt—spiralled around her. "Paige has been very kind to shelter us, but we've been landlocked for months, or at least that's how it feels. _This_ is like being able to stretch after a long day of riding on your horse." She threw her arms open to the ocean and basked in the breezes, both the natural ones and the ones Dean conjured for her. "Go ahead and talk," she added. "I'll be here."

"She's a strange one," Dean remarked as he and Bex walked a bit further down, leaving Renee to enjoy her communion with the ocean winds. "You looked like you were getting cold, so. . . . " He motioned to Bex's hands. "But you're fire, right? No one corrected me last night. . . ."

"No, I am. That's my quirk, I guess. I can't warm myself up by my own flames. Even if I set a fire naturally, with wood and all that, it won't feel as hot to me as if someone else does it." Bex rubbed her arms, wishing she had dressed warmer for the day. The sky had been deceptively bright blue when she woke up, but she knew from experience that the crystal-clear days could be some of the coldest. "Do you have one?" She had almost offered up her sisters' quirks, but stopped herself; whether they wanted to confide in Dean was up to each of them to decide on their own.

Dean tapped his throat. "Sometimes I lose my breath quickly. Talking's hard too." He glanced back and smiled at Renee, who was spinning in slow, happy circles. "That's why I don't say much. Lucky for me, she fills in the silence."

Bex watched Renee for a moment too. When was the last time she had been so easily happy? Bex could remember feeling relieved and proud and grateful, but simple happiness was more elusive. "You seem like a good pair," she replied. Then she pointed to the scars on his wrist. He made no effort to hide them, but she could tell the marks bothered him. "That must have hurt, freeing yourself from that."

"Not as much as being enslaved by it did." His answer was swift and sharp, but full of sadness. 

She wanted to ask if he had offered his brothers a way out, if he had tried contacting them after he was free, but she didn't want to pry. With the Skull King so close, they had to focus on necessary information; idle curiosities could be sated later. "You wanted to know about your brothers," she prompted. It would have been lovely to take refuge from the day and its threats and just learn from Dean's experience, but that was an indulgence that would have to wait. 

"Yeah. I know you didn't see much of them, and what you saw probably wasn't . . . something you would want to remember." He huffed out a breath and rolled his neck from side to side. "But did they look healthy?"

"I guess so. It would depend on what you consider _healthy_." Bex pointed to his ravaged wrist. "They both had bracelets still. Seth did for sure, anyway. I didn't get much of a look at Roman, so you would have to ask Charlotte or Bayley for details about him. I know he felt strong. Imposing."

"He's a good man. The best of us, easily." Dean gazed down at the sand, and his words reminded Bex of what Finn had said about being worthy of a chance to change. "He only ever wanted to protect his family. He didn't know what Hunter wanted until it was too late."

"Well, what I felt of his power was strong, so I would guess he was healthy enough," Bex allowed. "As for Seth . . . I know I'm probably not the most clear-headed. Sasha was in a river, trying to sneak up on them, and . . . he started boiling the water." Dean shut his eyes then, but Bex continued. If he was going to be any help against his Shield brothers, he needed to know what they had done. "When Sasha had to resurface, he tried to choke her and I . . . reversed the heat in the water. I'm not really sure how. I just knew I had to do something and I reacted."

"And there was something about a fire?" Dean's voice, which seemed to be naturally dry, was getting bleaker by the word.

"I think that was just a warning, as much as to say _Look how close I got; I could have killed you_." Bex knew there was more to it, but she wasn't sure how much to share just yet. "It was a small fire, though. Contained. It wasn't a danger."

Dean nodded slowly, posture easing as Renee started making her way over to them. "And the river?"

That was harder to explain without mentioning the golden skull, so Bex took a moment. "He wanted to know if we had seen his fire and what we did to it." It sounded awkward and evasive even to her ears, but it was the best she could do. "He sounded genuine, or so I thought. He sounded like he wanted to stop the Skull King from whatever he was doing." She ended with a weak shrug. Her feelings were all tangled up in the encounter with the river and she wasn't always sure what was fact and what was emotion. "Maybe he's found someone like Renee, someone he cares about and who can help him break the bond."

Renee must have overheard the last part, because she frowned a bit as she joined them. "It wasn't easy." She grabbed Dean's hand and raised it, kissing some of his scars. "But I would do it all over again for Dean if I had to. If Seth has someone, I hope they're strong. They'll need to be." Then she squeezed Dean's fingers. "Do you think Roman's wife is strong enough?"

Dean nodded. "But we need to get both of them free." The look he gave Bex cut her to the core. "Your goal is to beat the Skull King, and you'll do whatever you have to. I know that. I respect that." Then his breathing grew raspy—whether from emotion or the quirk of his affinity, Bex couldn't tell. "But I need to save my brothers. Renee gave me a chance. I need them to have the same opportunity."

"I'll do what I can," Bex promised. But she was only one Horsewoman of four, one warrior amongst hundreds. Once the true fighting began, promises and vows were often the first casualties.


	19. Chapter 19

The hardest part of war was often the waiting, Bex thought. The best warriors didn't yearn to kill, but inaction made them feel uneasy. There was only so much training and preparation Finn's warriors and Paige's and Drew's knights could do, and when days stretched into weeks with no further sign of the Skull King—or The Shield—resources started to run low. Drew had already dispatched half of the knights he had brought to help with the rebuilding of the scorched villages, but most of the work had been finished within a week. "I hate to say it, because it feels like tempting the gods," Drew remarked, "but I almost wish that damn bastard would just _do_ something. Anything. I'm tired of waiting."

"We all are." The reigning monarchs of the Three Kingdoms were sitting in the mead hall with the Four Horsewomen as well as Dean and Renee, meeting to discuss strategy for a battle that, at that point, seemed like it might never happen. Paige shook her head in frustration. "I want to help. I do. But you know I have my own problems with France—and within my own borders." She shot a dark look at Drew. "I hope there's none from the north as well."

Drew held up his hands peacefully. "We'll abide by the truce as long as you do, Queen." Then he turned to the Four Horsewomen. "Paige has a point. We all have our own lands to defend, and while the Skull King is a threat to us all, there is the possibility that there's also a _divide and conquer_ plan in the works. I'll keep some of my knights here at your command, Bex, but I should send some back home."

"With Nikki, hopefully," Sasha muttered under her breath, quickly lifting her mug of mead to her mouth when Drew gave her an arch look.

Bex simply nodded. "We understand. You can't be away from your lands indefinitely, and the Three Kingdoms need defending too. If you can spare anyone to stay, we would be grateful, but you need to think of your own lands first."

Paige was the first to rise. "I won't be much help in the battle, I'm afraid, not after. . . ." She reflexively raised a hand to her neck, reminded of the old injury that kept her from being a warrior herself. "I'll take half my knights with me, and leave the rest under your command. I'll tell William to report to you when you're done here."

"We'll treat them as our own," Bex promised her, rising to hug the English queen farewell. Taking on the responsibility of foreign knights was its own daunting task: if anything happened to Paige's people while on the mainland, she could hold the Four Horsewomen accountable and start a war. Bex didn't figure Paige would go to such lengths, but she hoped not to find out. "Thank you."

"Calm seas and friendly winds," Charlotte added, rising in turn. After Paige had said farewell to everyone assembled in the mead hall, she went outside to divvy up her knights and begin their departure. "Finn, Drew—if you want to do the same. . . ."

"I'm staying," Drew declared firmly. "I'll send Nikki back with half our knights, however." He held Sasha's gaze as he said the last, waiting until she reluctantly dropped her gaze to continue. "I'll stay as long as I can, but. . . ."

"But Scotland comes first for you. We understand." Bayley bowed her head in respect as Drew excused himself to go talk to his people. After he left, she turned to Finn. "Same for you, Finn. Ireland is further away, but you still have to consider your people."

"I do," Finn agreed grimly. "And one of my favourite ones is sitting right there, which is making this damn difficult." Bex was sitting beside him and he leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Sheamus will stay and the majority of my warriors, but there are too many things I need to oversee. I'm sure the advisors I left in place are doing their best, but Ireland sits on my shoulders, not theirs."

"I know." Bex had fully expected him to leave—she was surprised he had come in the first place, given everything that was going on—but it didn't make the parting any easier. "Save travels. Give my love to my family, will you?"

"Of course." Standing up, Finn kissed her her head. When his mouth was near her ear, he added for her alone, "The spring equinox. Don't forget. Vero will be expecting both of us." Turning to the others, Finn smiled and walked around the table, saying personal farewells to each person, even Dean and Renee. "Good luck. You've got Bex on your side," he added with a wink, "so you'll be fine."

Even after Finn closed the door behind him, the chatter outside got louder as each of the Three Kingdoms monarchs gathered their people and gave their orders. "Sheamus and William are strong, capable," Bex reassured the other Horsewomen. "They'll be great assets."

"I want to stay." Dean had never really raised his voice since the Four Horsewomen had returned to the settlement, but just then it sounded softer than ever, lost in the rustle of clothing and swallows of mead. "I want to help."

Sasha's eyes widened before she could keep herself from reacting, but she recovered quickly. "Dean, that's admirable . . . but you don't have to." She gestured to his scarred wrist. "We know how hard it was for you to break free. We don't expect you to confront Hunter—"

"And neither does he. That's why I have to," Dean insisted. "He'll think I'm not strong enough. He'll think I won't go against my brothers." Renee squeezed his arm and rested her chin on his shoulder, comforting him merely with her presence, her constancy. "I've already told you some of their fighting strategies. There's things I know by instinct, by seeing them; I can only help with those if I'm in the battle with you."

Charlotte shot a quick look at Becky. Privately, the Four Horsewomen had questioned what to do about Dean. He seemed repentant and eager to help, but they didn't know how easily he might fall back under the Skull King's sway. "Are you sure that's wise? We were already thinking Sasha and I should be in the second wave so the Skull King can't make a move for us. If . . . if all the information we've gathered is correct, he'll need a water-weaver and an air-archer. He'll try to eliminate Bex and Bayley, but he actively needs people like us."

"Which is exactly why we should be in the first wave!" As with so many things, Sasha disagreed with Charlotte's reckoning of the situation. "Hunter will try to get us before the battle gets too entrenched, and we can use that to our advantage. If we send out a first wave, he has no reason not to just mow everyone down."

Bayley scoffed as she sat back down. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sasha. You weren't there at the river," she pointed out, a hint of bitterness curdling her voice. "Charlotte and I held our own pretty well, I thought, and I was going up against another earth-etcher."

"The battle plans aren't written in stone," Bex interjected. "We should wait until all the fighters from the Three Kingdoms are settled and then involve Drew, Sheamus, and William in the planning too. Sheamus and William in particular could have insights to offer that we might have missed otherwise." Then she glanced over to Dean, who was resting his head against Renee's. "Dean, we appreciate all your help, and even more that you want to help still. But it won't be easy. Just because Paige offered you shelter and brought you here means nothing. We know you've been through a lot." She started to add _We don't expect you to stay_ , but his earlier rebuttal rang in her ears. He had a very good point—several of them, in fact—but there were still a lot of factors to consider. 

"You're wrong. That means everything. Paige took a chance on me when she didn't have to. She knew what The Shield had done—what Hunter had ordered us to do," Dean replied, "and she still took me at my word and Renee at hers and gave us a chance to prove ourselves. I didn't escape just for myself. I did it so I could eventually get my brothers free too and then stop the Skull King for good."

Charlotte poured herself another mug of mead. "I don't think it will be that easy to defeat the Skull King, not permanently. I wish I could trust my father enough to seek his counsel, but—" She covered her pause with a long swig of mead, and Bex gently patted her back. "If we can stop him, that might have to be enough."

Dean held her gaze unflinchingly. "And free my brothers," he insisted. "They can be saved. They can be better. I know they can."

Renee did her best to hide her grimace. The love she had for Dean was obvious, but the Four Horsewomen weren't sure if she believed the other members of The Shield had the same capacity for redemption. "The main goal is to stop Hunter," she said softly. "If Roman and Seth attack or . . . or if they don't want to join us, we might not have any choice."

"We?" Sasha truly looked at Renee for the first time. "You're a bard. What are you going to do? Sing them to sleep so we can subdue them?"

"Not all of us were kept bound to the Skull King with cuffs." There was a vein of ice in Renee's voice that took all the Four Horsewomen a bit by surprise. During her time in the settlement, Renee had always seemed quick-witted and clever and kind, but the glint in her eye implied she knew how to use weapons other than words.

Before anyone could reply, there was a heavy knock on the mead hall door and Drew stepped back in, followed by Sheamus from the Irish contingent and William from the English. "Paige has already set sail," Drew reported, smirking a bit at how William flinched at how casually his queen was mentioned. "Finn's ships will be departing a few hours later, just so they don't attract attention by having so many ships sailing at once. My people will leave later in the day." He sat at the table again and motioned for the other two men to join the group. "Nikki wants a chance to say her goodbyes, of course." He glanced over at Sasha as if daring her to say anything.

Sasha squared her shoulders and ignored Drew's look. "We were just discussing the merits of having Dean in the battle with us, and whether Charlotte and I should be in the first wave or the second. What are your thoughts?"

And thus the arguments began again, backtracking a bit to get Sheamus and William caught up—particularly in regards to the magical components which were being debated—and Bex found her gaze straying to the window. She could see the docks from one of the windows, with Paige's ships in the distance and Finn's swarming with activity as the Irish heading home were packing up their ship and getting ready to set sail; some of Drew's people were helping them as they waited to set sail themselves. Everything they decided in that mead hall and everything they brought into motion would affect _everyone_ : the knights and warriors heading home, those staying to fight, people in lands the Four Horsewomen hadn't even heard of. Everything rested on their shoulders. She just hoped they could handle the burden.


	20. Chapter 20

The first time the Four Horsewomen encountered the Skull King and The Shield, it had been unexpected. This time they were looking for them, but it was no less of a surprise when they spied three men looming on the horizon, their horses grazing off to the side. "It can't be that easy," Drew muttered as the Skull King himself started to approach them. "Bex, you don't have cloaking magic. Would that be an earth-etcher gift?" He looked over to Bayley, who shrugged. "There is no way the Skull King would come this close to your lands without an army at his back."

Their own army—a blend of local, Irish, Scottish, and English fighters—was back at the settlement; this was only meant to be a scouting expedition to look for signs of the Skull King's position. They certainly hadn't bargained on coming across him in the flesh. If the Skull King wasn't using any sort of cloaking magic, then they outnumbered him: Drew, Dean, and the Four Horsewomen had gone out, leaving a reluctant Renee behind in the settlement since she had fallen ill. "If there's such a thing as cloaking magic," Bayley murmured, "I would love to learn it." Ducking behind Drew's massive frame, she bent down and pressed both hands to the earth. "I don't feel anything out of place. I can feel Roman's energy . . . humming, waiting to be used, but that's all. Beyond the natural rhythms, though, there's nothing."

"A regular amount of nothing," Dean asked quietly, coming up to Bayley's side, "or a suspicious one?" It sounded like an odd, enigmatic question at first, but Bex thought she caught the subtleties of it.

Bayley straightened up slowly, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Drew kept himself in front of her like a shield, but the Skull King was no fool: his earth-etcher was probably testing the rhythms to see if he could feel any of Bayley's work nearby. "Regular, mostly. Even with all the rebuilding and replanting, the suffering runs deep. It's going to take the land a while to recover. There's a sort of low buzz through everything—life struggling to live, I guess. But nothing deceptive."

Though Charlotte was considerably taller, Bex tried to angle herself in front of her friend, but the air-archer wasn't having it. "They know we're here, Bex," she said softly. "There's no point in hiding."

"The Four Horsewomen all in one place," Hunter intoned, corner of his mouth lifting in the slightest smirk. "Perhaps you'll do me the honour of staying around this time instead of retreating, so we can have a proper conversation."

"Do you usually boil people you want to have a conversation with?" Sasha came up close to Bex's side and squeezed her hand. "I know I don't. It seems like the wrong type of warm for a welcome."

"You missed a few!" Drew bellowed. It would have been impossible for the Skull King not to see the massive Scotsman, but he stood up straighter all the same. "At least we've paid you the courtesy of showing our faces. Where are the rest of your men?"

The Skull King spread his arms wide and his smile wider. "This is it. A true king doesn't need to hide behind an army—"

"Dean?" Roman's face went pale, his voice flat as he saw the man standing beside Charlotte. "Dean, are you—?" A sharp look from Hunter made him go quiet. 

"As I was saying, a true king doesn't hide behind his army. You know what I want, I assume." Hunter glared at his other Shield soldier. "Seth has never been particularly good with keeping secrets. Where's the skull?"

Sasha showed her open, empty hands. "We don't have it. We're not like you. We don't keep trophies."

Hunter just laughed, stepping a bit closer. As if on leashes, Roman and Seth followed suit. Seeing their cuffs now after looking at Dean's scars gave them a whole new meaning to the Four Horsewomen. "You might not have it, but you know where it is. You're rare. You know you are. You wouldn't give up something that could lead you to answers so easily." He glared over at Seth and added, "The skull is my property. Give it back, and we can discuss terms."

Bex tried not to let her gaze linger too long on Seth, but it was hard. The area around his cuff and on his other wrist was swollen and dark with bruises, and she didn't even want to try imagining what punishments he had endured for defying the Skull King. Remembering his worry for his brother, she looked over to Roman quickly and couldn't spot any major marks, but that meant nothing. Tyrants knew how to hurt people in ways that weren't always obvious. "Stop destroying our villages and go back to your own lands," Bex countered, "and then we'll discuss giving the skull back."

Hunter's eyes flared with anger and Seth twitched in kind, as if the Skull King's wrath were some sort of tether that limited his movement. "The _skull_ ," he growled, each word landing like a clubbing blow, "is _mine_. Where is it?"

"Where it should be," Bayley spat. Having buried so many victims of the Skull King, she had no patience for his own loss. "Buried with honour, not displayed as a trophy."

"Buried. That's a start." The Skull King looked over to his earth-etcher. "Find it."

Roman met Dean's gaze briefly. "I can't. They all buried it. The four of them, together. I can untangle her magic," he said, pointing at Bayley, "and Seth might be able to handle their fire-forger's, but we have no one who can undo air or water."

Bex was torn. Part of her smirked at Roman's comment about Seth only _possibly_ being able to undo her magic, but now she wondered if it was wise to bury the skull at all. Perhaps they should have taken it, or submerged it in the waterfall instead. 

Then Roman's words echoed in her head: _They all buried it. The four of them, together._ Except they hadn't. Charlotte had found the stones to be used as shovels and Bex had dug the hole, since they didn't want Bayley to use her magic. But had Bayley done anything aside from bundle the skull in the blanket and tie it shut? What had Sasha done? As Bex was searching her memory, Roman caught her gaze and shook his head so subtly his hair barely moved.

Seth saw the exchange and straightened up. "What do you mean, _might_? I'm the one who boiled the river, remember?"

Hunter whirled on Seth so quickly, his sword sheath hit Roman's legs. "You also took the skull in the first place, so maybe you don't have too much to brag about."

Through it all, a small smile crept across Dean's lips. Seth stealing the golden skull and taking it to the Four Horsewomen for safekeeping, Roman deliberately lying to delay the Skull King: they were small acts of defiance, but attempts all the same. He rubbed the wrist where his own cuff had been. "Losing thralls, losing skulls. What's next, Hunter? Maybe Stephanie will find herself a new king. I'm sure her father wouldn't mind. He's seen the way you eye his throne."

"Don't think I can't bind you again, Dean," Hunter snarled, stepping closer. This time, whether in defiance or simply because the Skull King didn't drag them along, Roman and Seth didn't shadow his movement. "And when I do, it will be so much worse. You won't remember being free. You won't remember your little bard. I will take all those memories and feed them to the pit, and leave as little more than a shell. It's all you're good for."

When Bex felt an angry wind start to pick up, she moved to grasp Dean's arm and try to calm him, but then she saw Charlotte's hair fluttering out of the corner of her eye. "It eats at you, doesn't it? That you can scratch and claw your way to the top—even kill your best friend—and then there's people like us who are just stronger than you and always will be, and we didn't have to do a damn thing."

The Skull King snorted out in frustration. "Charlotte, don't think that just because your father is a friend of my wife's family that you'll be granted some sort of mercy. People die all the time in battle, and you've made your choice." Glaring at his adversaries, Hunter stepped back so he was flanked by The Shield once more. "I want the skull," he repeated. "If you don't return it to me, the attacks will continue. If you insist on fighting, we can keep it simple. You've already lost so many of your people; surely you don't want any more to die." Smirking at Drew, Hunter added, "And I'm sure you would like to keep your friends' casualties to a minimum so you aren't fighting a war on two fronts. I hear Queen Paige can be particularly vengeful."

The Four Horsewomen were all bristling with emotion, but Drew had managed to remain relatively calm throughout. "What are you suggesting? Aside from the return of the skull, that is, because that's not going to happen. That poor man might have been a fool for being your friend, but he deserves his final rest."

Hunter's eyes sparked again and Bex almost wondered if he had latent powers of his own, kept hidden to placate Stephanie's father. Surely he had wanted his only daughter to marry a prince or an emperor's son, not some hulking brute who wouldn't have looked out of place in his army. "Single combat," he spat. "Magic can only be used if both competitors possess it."

Drew's icy eyes narrowed. "And the terms of victory?"

"Should you win," Hunter began, tone dismissive, "I'll pull my forces back to the established border and stop the attacks." Then his bravado returned, seeming to broaden his shoulders. "When I win, you give me the skull—and those two." He pointed at Sasha and Charlotte.

"No." Dean's voice was as sharp as the borrowed blade at his side. "You don't get to bargain with people's lives." When Drew's hand clamped down on his shoulder, he did his best to shrug it off. " _No,_ " he repeated insistently. "Those terms are shit. That's not equal at all. You . . . you don't know what they'll go through. . . ."

"That choice is up to me and Sasha," Charlotte said firmly. "If we think it's worth the risk, then we can decide to agree to the terms." The other Horsewomen and Drew closed ranks, forming a small huddle around the freed Shield brother. "He has a point: if we can agree to terms and single combat, think of how many lives could be saved."

"And think of how much damage he'll be able to do if he gets a complete set of elementals!" Dean hissed back. "Don't think it'll stop with the golden skull, because it won't. He'll kill people as punishment and have you bring them back over and over, just to make it worse. He'll send his best warriors into impossible situations because he'll know you can revive them. And that's just the spells we know about. Renee . . . I know she saw some horrible shit there. Soul-scouring, stomach-turning type of shit. And you know Hunter's just dying to try it."

"What are the chances that he'd fight on his own behalf?" Drew asked, having to lean down a bit to be on level with the others. "I don't have all my armour, but I would fight—"

Bex quickly shook her head. "No. Your people need you, remember? You have a warrior's heart, but you have to think like a king right now, not a knight."

"I don't know if I could beat Roman," Bayley admitted. "I'm good—I know I am—but some of the things he's done . . . I couldn't even imagine."

Bex dropped her gaze, pretending to mull over their options. She wished she could say the same. She hadn't burned down villages like Seth had, setting flame to homes with people still inside, but deep in the heart of battle, she would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about sneaking into the enemy camps and setting all their tents ablaze as they slept. She hadn't done it, which her sisters would argue was the main thing, but just knowing the thoughts had been there, ripe for the taking, was enough to make her wary. "I'll fight," she said firmly. "We can't risk Charlotte or Sasha or Dean, because the whole combat could be a ploy just to get at them. He's already got a fire-forger, so at least I'm safe in that sense."

Sasha pushed her way over to Bex. "Safe? How are you safe? Would you boil someone alive? Because Seth would. Would you burn down entire villages? Because Seth has. Bex, you're strong, you're so strong, but he is something different entirely. If Hunter wants single combat so badly, let's make sure it's by the sword—"

"Do you agree to the terms," Hunter called out, "or do you want another slaughter laid at your feet?"

"We should be able to get Charlotte and Sasha removed from contention," Bex said quickly. "If he wants them, then he's not going to want to potentially damage his prizes." Neither Charlotte nor Sasha looked happy about it, but they couldn't deny the logic. "That leaves me and Bayley. _No_ , Drew." Bex glowered up at the Scottish king. "I'm not sailing all the way to Scotland just to tell Nikki of the Cross that her king died in battle. The next time I go to Scotland, I want to see your wife, not your widow."

"I'll do it." They all recognized Dean's voice, but the former Shield soldier was no longer in the huddle. While they were debating, he had crept away to face his former brothers and the Skull King. "But we'll be adding a few things to those terms."


	21. Chapter 21

Silence often fell in battle, but not like this. Bex was used to the silences after a fierce fight or when someone had died in combat, but the quiet that followed Dean's declaration felt like a blister, raw and ready to burst. Drew surged forward and hauled the former Shield soldier back by his collar. "He is not our official combatant," Drew said sharply, glaring at the Skull King. "You go make your decision and we'll make ours, and we'll meet back here."

Hunter's laugh was both mirthless and merciless. "I already know who will be fighting," he replied with a smirk, "but by all means, delay the inevitable." Motioning to Roman and Seth, the Skull King fell back a few paces.

"You are not fighting." Sasha gave Dean a hard shove to the chest. "What about Renee? Your wife is back at the village, thinking this is just a scouting trip and that you'll be back before dark. Those men might have been your brothers back then, but Renee is your wife _now_."

"Your cuff," Bex said suddenly, looking down at Dean's scarred wrist. "Was it enchanted specifically to bind you as an air-archer—and Roman's for earth, Seth's for fire—or is it a general binding?"

Dean shrugged helplessly, gaze continually drawn back to his brothers. "General, I think. Hunter has a bunch of sorcerers. Please, let me do it. I owe it to them—"

"You are not fighting." This time it was Bayley making the declaration, and Bex had never seen her look more serious. "I will bury you if I have to, but you're not going out there."

Pacing, Drew huffed out a long breath. "You said something about altering the terms. What did you have in mind? We all have to agree, obviously," he added before any of the Horsewomen could protest, "but I don't think a simple retreat from Hunter is enough. There's no guarantee how long he would honour that for, and we have enough knights and warriors that we could push him back on our own."

"With how many losses, though?" Charlotte wound a gentle cocoon of air around them, both masking their voices from Hunter and his men as well as giving them more air to breathe so they would calm down quicker. "Single combat is probably for the best. Dean just said he has a lot of sorcerers. Who knows what else—what other _people_ —he's acquired since Dean and Renee left?"

"How does he use the cuffs to control people?" Bex asked Dean. The sudden shift in topic seemed to confuse him for a moment, but then he looked grateful for the diversion. "He doesn't have any magic himself, does he?"

Dean shook his head. "No. He has his own cuff, and it's linked to everyone else's; each thrall has their own bead." He idly rubbed a spot on the inside of his wrist and Bex guessed that's where his control bead used to rest. "Why?"

"An addition to our terms. If we win, he releases Roman and Seth and his other thralls," Bex said simply. "I don't know how many of them are magic users, but they deserve to be free regardless."

"He'll never agree to that. It's too much of a loss," Drew retorted, leaning closer into their huddle.

Meeting Bex's gaze, Dean mouthed his silent thanks. "What about just Seth and Roman, then? They're a broken faction. He would probably want to start over anyway: get new magic users, younger ones that are easier to shape and control."

"He might go for that," Charlotte said slowly, "but it wouldn't be enough for him to just . . . tell them to go, would it? How did Renee free you?"

Dean rubbed his wrist again. "She was his bard. You know that. It means she was usually in the royal chambers, often when they were all drunk. She figured out which bead was mine and would saw away at it a bit each night as she sat by the Skull King's side. Hunter thought she was just fawning over him, so he didn't pay much attention; as long as Renee's hands didn't go any further than his arm, Stephanie didn't care too much either. After a few days, she was finally able to snap the bead off and we ran." With a grimace, he added, "Pulling the rings out was a different story."

Bayley chanced a look over at the Skull King and his men, but they were in a huddle of their own. "Any idea which beads represent your brothers?" When Dean shook his head, she sighed. "And I'm guessing they're at least impervious to fire, or else Seth would have tried burning them."

"Seth . . . wasn't doing well when Hunter recruited him. I tried getting him and Roman to leave with me, but Roman was worried about the consequences for his family," Dean revealed, "and Seth . . . I think he got to the point where he thought he deserved to suffer."

While the others debated what terms to add, Bex took a deep breath, focussing on the flame within. "I'm fighting," she declared, squaring her shoulders. "The Skull King won't fight, and he seems to value Roman more. In his eyes, Seth's already caused trouble, so it's two-fold for him. If Seth wins, he's proven his loyalty and is redeemed; if Seth loses, then the Skull King doesn't have to worry about punishing him. Seth and I are both forgers, so the fight will be more even."

Drew straightened up, looming over the fire-forger. "Bex, this is supposed to be a discussion, not a declaration."

To Bex's surprise, it was Charlotte who stood at her side, voice clear even as tears tracked down her cheeks. "I hate it, but Bex is right. She's our best chance. Drew, you're a king. You' know how to negotiate, so you can handle that with him. The rest of us can make sure Roman—or anyone else—doesn't interfere."

As one, Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha hugged Bex, all leaning in to press their heads to hers. "It's time to invoke that Irish luck, sister," Charlotte whispered in her ear.

Shaking his head in gentle exasperation, Drew smiled. "You'd better survive this, Bex, because Finn will want your head for it." Then he hugged her too, kissing the top of her head and murmuring a Scottish blessing into her hair. "And Nikki will never forgive me if I let you come to harm."

Dean hugged her last, somewhat awkwardly, and placed her hand over his scarred wrist. "You do what you have to do. I know stopping Hunter is the goal, so I understand that I might lose my brothers for good. But if you can. . . ."

"I never kill anyone if I don't have to," Bex assured him, squeezing his wrist before stepping back. "Does everyone trust Drew to negotiate the terms?" Once they were all in agreement, Bex and Drew stepped forward as one, though he had to shorten his stride to accommodate hers, and they stopped a respectful distance away from the Skull King and his Shield men.

It wasn't much of a surprise when Hunter urged Seth forward, but Bex still felt her heart sink a bit. She didn't particularly want to fight Roman either, but she knew she would have a hard time vanquishing a fellow fire-forger. "Fire against fire," Drew remarked. "As we suspected."

Hunter's expression was impassive. "If Seth hadn't taken what was mine, this would be a very different battle. Hence this is his fight to win." When he looked at Bex, he smirked a bit. "The mighty Four Horsewomen are letting a foreign king speak for them? Perhaps you're not the fabled warriors I thought you were."

Bex kept her chin high. "We all have our strengths. Negotiation is one of Drew's."

"Indeed." After a tense moment, Hunter added, "Call your earth-etcher over. She and Roman can raise a combat circle. I'm sure you don't want any flames getting out of control and running rampant over the countryside."

"Something you have no qualms about. Bayley!" Bex turned and raised her voice, waving to her friend. "Come here, please." Roman started to walk over at the same time, and the earth-etchers watched each other warily. "Can you raise a combat circle to contain our flames?"

Bayley's eyes were as tender as bruises, and Bex knew she had made the right choice. The earth-etcher wouldn't have thought twice about fighting to defend her sisters, and while some of her gentleness had been stripped away by time and tribulations, Bex didn't want her to lose all of it. Some saw it as a weakness, but she knew it was one of Bayley's greatest strengths. "Of course." She gave Roman a stiff nod and headed out to an expanse of flat land.

Bex was torn between watching the raising magic and listening to Drew and the Skull King negotiate terms. Hunter still wanted Charlotte, Sasha, and the golden skull; when Drew tried to add Seth and Roman to their terms, Hunter tried countering by adding Bex and Bayley. Drew refused that outright and then the true negotiations began, underscored with jabs and taunts, and Bex felt her fingers start to itch with the pressure of pent-up flames.

"Thank you." Seth's quiet voice crept up on her like the sunrise and Bex startled to see him watching her. "I'm glad it's you. I didn't want Dean to have to kill me."

Bex frowned, but found she couldn't look away. "I don't want to kill you either." Before he could make more of that than she meant, she added, "I don't want to kill _anyone_. We just want our people to be safe and free."

"Your people are lucky then," Seth replied with a small smile, "and not just because they're Irish." He clasped his hands in front of him, and the sun caught on his bracelet. "Please tell Dean we're glad he's free. He deserves it." After a moment, he dropped his voice even lower and added, "If you can, spare Roman. Anything he's done, he's done to keep his family safe."

"You have to _fight_." Bex couldn't believe she was actually encouraging her opponent, but this went beyond it being a point of honour to not battle against someone who was ill equipped. If Hunter thought Seth was purposefully losing, all agreed-upon terms would be void and the Skull King would likely declare war. "The Skull King has to see that you're trying."

"I know." Before Seth could say more, the Skull King and Drew came over to them, and Bayley and Roman rejoined them soon after. Any chance she had to ask him about his cuff or Roman's was gone.

"If my champion wins," Hunter announced, "I get the golden skull returned to me, the burned lands uncontested, and Charlotte and Sasha."

Bex looked sharply at Drew. "What did you—"

"A little faith, Irish. If our champion wins, all hostilities from the Skull King and his allies will cease, and all their forces will withdraw immediately. A firm border will be established between his lands and yours. And Seth and Roman will be released from their service." Drew chuckled at Seth's surprise. "Unlike some kings, lad, I believe in freedom." Then Drew pointed to Hunter's cuff, and Bex's breath caught when she saw how many beads it held. She had expected ten, maybe twenty, but nearly every ring had a bead in its orbit. "Hunter will remove his bracelet for the duration of the contest. No one is allowed to enter the combat circle once Bex and Seth are inside; if either of you step out for any reason, it will automatically considered a loss." He went on to explain other terms of combat, but Bex was too sickened by the control cuff to hear most of it.

"I want to see that bastard take it off," Dean demanded, leaning around Charlotte to point at Hunter. "That cuff needs to be off and out of his reach for the whole fight."

Hunter's cuff apparently wasn't hooked directly into his skin, because he could remove it easily, and he held it up for all to see. "If the earth-etchers could cooperate once more," he said, "dig a hole and I'll put it in. If both of you bind it, both of you will be needed to unseal it. Do you so swear?"

Roman nodded reflexively, and Bayley followed suit after glancing to Bex for guidance. "Yes," she said firmly, though hesitation was darkening her eyes. The two earth-etchers dug a small hole and waited until Hunter dropped his cuff inside. Then they filled it and each pressed a hand to the disturbed soil, making it glow for a moment.

"No physical weapons," Drew added, motioning to Bex's sword. "Only fire."

"Fair enough." Bex took off her sword and removed the daggers she had stashed in her boots, leaving all her weapons at Drew's feet before meeting his gaze one last time and striding over to the combat circle. Seth only had to divest himself of his sword, which he left by the Skull King, Once both fire-forgers were inside the circle, Bayley and Roman went over to activate it, and a low quaking hum filled the air. As much as Bex wanted to look back at her sisters, she didn't dare. Their lives—especially Sasha's and Charlotte's—were in her hands, and the best thing she could do for them was focus.

"Whenever you're ready," Hunter called out, as if he were watching a play on stage and not a battle with lives on the line.

And then everything was flames.


	22. Chapter 22

Fire was more than Bex's element. It was a constant companion, a valuable resource, as much a part of her as her body. It coloured her hair and left her cold and affected every aspect of her life, and she thought she knew everything there was to know about flames. But she had never experienced flames like these. They swirled around her and Seth like silken scarves, undulating like waves, and for a dangerous moment, she was riveted. In hindsight, she knew Seth easily could have slain her in that instant, but the all-encompassing beauty of the flames simply had to be absorbed. 

"What are you doing?" Bex demanded, watching the fire dance in Seth's dark eyes. "They have to be able to see us. Otherwise the Skull King won't honour the terms—"

"Win or lose, he has no intention of honouring them. You must know that." Flames dripped down Seth's hands like sweat, sparking futilely against the ground; Bayley and Roman must have enchanted the entire circle, not just the perimeter.

"I know my sisters are out there," Bex replied, curling her hands into fists of flame. "And I know they're counting on me." She aimed a punch at Seth's gut, but he spun away before it could connect. " _Fight me,_ dammit!" Her momentum almost knocked her into the wall of flames and she was careful not to cross the earthen barrier.

"You said you didn't want to kill me," Seth reminded her, sounding strangely sad. "I don't want to hurt you either."

She didn't know what possessed her to do so, but Bex reached out and touched the flickering wall. The flames were deliciously warm to the touch and she moved her hand through the fire as if she were swimming. It was no hotter than sun-warmed water, soothing and calm. "We need to fight," she insisted. "There's too much at stake. For both of us.""

Behind her, the wall of fire wavered a bit, creating small gaps like a monster's multitude of eyes, opening and closing. Through one, she could see Hunter, fuming at the obstruction; Charlotte's face filled another, taut with hope. "I won't hurt you. I need you to survive so you can help Roman."

There had been nothing in the terms that Bex could recall about battling to the death, but she knew the Skull King wouldn't be satisfied with a symbolic victory. Someone would have to shed some blood at the very least. "I want to help both of you, you fool!"

Surprise made Seth's control flicker, and the wall of fire stretched thin. "The Scottish king . . . he said Roman and I would be released from our service. . . ."

"If I _win_ ," Bex snarled. She couldn't believe someone who was part of a group called The Shield could be so inept when it came to terms of combat. "If we're just dancing around in a circle, the Skull King doesn't even have to pretend to honour the terms." She darted in again and swept his knees out from under him. For an instant, the wall of flames dropped completely, and even when he was able to recast it, it was thinner than before.

"Roman has something to go home to. Family, a wife, children. I have nothing," Seth confessed, scrambling back to his feet. When Bex spun a web of flames, he avoided most it, but it tangled in his left arm was ensnared, making his cuff sizzle.

"So find something!" Bex urged, dropping the threads of the web so she could launch another attack. The wall was coalescing again, and she needed to keep him distracted. "Make something! Roman found a woman to love! He had kids—"

Seth swooped forward suddenly and Bex gloved her hands in fire, ready to be hit—and then to hit back. She wasn't ready, however, for the kiss, and it made her hands flare into fountains of flame. All the warmth and wonder of his flames were echoed in his kiss, from the way his fingertips felt like sparks against her neck to the solid heat of his other arm around her waist, lifting her onto her toes.

Instead of his divided attention diluting the walls of fire, it magnified them, turning the flames blood red and coal black, snapping and angry. Bex could vaguely hear someone yelp in pain, and she had just enough wherewithal to hope it was Hunter. Every other part of her was consumed by the kiss, a fire unto itself, one neither of them could hope to control once it had caught. The hand that wore the cuff was the one in her hair, and she reached up for it, fingers dancing across the heated links of chain until she felt the solitary bead. 

As she pushed all of herself into the kiss, allowing herself a fleeting moment of unexpected loveliness—they were both burning, inside and out, and nothing had ever felt quite so glorious—she pulled with all her might on the bead, wrenching it and several links of chain free. Seth's agony roared into the kiss and she expected him to pull back, to retaliate at last, but he just sank deeper into their merged flame. The incandescence around them was almost too bright to bear, the walls of fire having turned silvery-white, and when Bex finally stepped back to breathe, Seth fell to his knees. The wall collapsed along with him, drifting away in a sweep of ash. 

Staggering, Bex looked down at herself, expecting to see oozing burns and the scorched remains of her hair, but she was hale and whole. The bead from Seth's bracelet was half-melted to her hand, a smear of molten black with a hint of amber. It took her a moment to focus on the world outside the circle, beyond her heaving lungs and Seth wavering on his knees, but her sisters were still there, flanked by Drew and Dean. Part of her had feared they might try to attack the Skull King during the battle, breaking the agreement, but no one so much as had a sword in their hands. "Leave now," she croaked, "and honour the terms."

That galvanized Hunter into action and he freed his sword, rushing towards the circle. "You cloaked the circle. The terms—"

"Choke on your _terms_." Roman's eyes seemed to spark as he made the earth around Hunter's feet surge upwards, encasing the Skull King's legs from the knee down. "She won. We're free." When the Skull King started to curse him, Roman slapped a handful of mud over Hunter's mouth and dried it into a mask.

Drew motioned to the small mound of disturbed earth that covered Hunter's cuff. "Can we destroy that," he asked, "or will it harm everyone it's attached to?"

Roman shook his head. "If you have a sorcerer—or sorceress," he added, nodding to the Four Horsewomen, "they should be able to unwind the spells. It'll take a while because there are so many, but if they can manage it, they'll have a lot of people in their debt." Then he hurried over to the combat circle when Bex started to move. "Stop. Wait. We need to deactivate it." Bayley joined him at the perimeter and they walked in opposite directions around the circle, touching it at key points. The release of the binding magic felt like a relieved sigh, and everyone gathered—except Hunter, who was struggling against his earthen bonds—seemed to relax a fraction. 

Bayley swept Bex up in a hug as soon as the fire-forger was safe to move. "Don't ever do that again."

Bex was too shaky to speak, but she watched as Roman knelt beside his brother, examining him for injuries. "His cuff. How did you break it?" Over half of the rings were still intact, but without the bead, the only power they held was physical pain.

"While we were fighting," Bex managed. She wasn't sure how she felt about the kiss quite yet, so she wasn't going to mention that, not even to her sisters. Wiping the remains of the melted bead against her thigh, she let Bayley lead her over to the other Horsewomen and Drew.

Dean gave her a quick nod of thanks as he ran over to the circle, joining his erstwhile brothers in the ashes and the dirt. "Maybe it's because she's a fire-forger too." He looked over to Bayley. "Could you try? With Roman?"

Bex ducked her head into Sasha's shoulder as they hugged, definitely glad she hadn't yet divulged everything that had led up to the breaking of the cuff rings. "It's up to you, Bayley," she murmured, reluctant to leave the solidity of her sisters' embraces. 

Bayley glanced to the struggling Skull King and nodded. "We can't leave him like that forever, though, and we still need to get his bracelet." Then she knelt by Roman. "I'm not sure what to do."

"Push." Seth's voice sounded like the crackle of brittle branches, but Dean had propped him up and his eyes were clearing. "Push your power into it."

"It will probably hurt," Bayley apologized as she took Roman's arm in her hands. Looking over to Seth, she winced a bit at the sight of his mangled wrist. "I just need to focus on the bead? Good." 

Without the rush of battle—or drowning in a kiss—it was clearly more painful, but Bayley managed to shatter the bead from Roman's cuff after a few minutes of effort. Dean patted his shoulder before standing and motioning to Charlotte. "As much as I'd love to kill this piece of shit," he said as he walked right in front of the Skull King, "we need him alive for now. At the very least, he has daughters. They deserve to know what happened to their father."

Roman paused in thanking Bayley to look down at his wrist. "I can take him back. I know I'm free now," he added, "but my family is in the southern lands. I need to see them, to get them to safety." Glancing around at the Four Horsewomen, at Drew, at his Shield brothers, he sighed and added, "But when I have my family back, we would be happy to move to the north. Under your terms, of course."

"Let's get this brute dealt with first," Drew suggested, "and then we can contend with the rest." He went over to where Charlotte and Dean were examining the Skull King. "What do you have in mind?"

Dean's grin wasn't quite as wide as it was when he was with Renee, but it was close. "Magic, of course. Charlotte and I can slow his lungs so he's barely alive—that will keep him easy for Roman to manage. And maybe we can figure out some way to levitate him."

Hunter was still thrashing admirably, but fear was starting to rise in his eyes. It probably would have been safer to kill him, Bex thought, but if a war was going to start either way, at least they still had their honour intact. "I think we can do that." Charlotte slid a poisoned-honey smile Hunter's way. "My father made sure I learned as much about my powers as I could."

The combat itself had been brief, but the aftermath stretched far and wide. As Charlotte and Dean eased Hunter into a comatose state, one his sorcerers would easily be able to reverse, Bayley and Roman created earthen bonds for his feet and legs to match his mask of mud. Then the earth-etchers exhumed the Skull King's control cuff, handing it to Drew for safekeeping. Sasha, meanwhile, had barely let go of Bex, who had started to shake. "We should do something with Shawn's skull," Bex said softly, "once Hunter's far enough away. We can't pay respect to all of his remains, but we can at least do something."

"We will," Sasha promised, somehow managing to tighten her arms around Bex. "Are you okay?"

Bex glanced over at Seth. She hadn't felt any burns before, but now her lips were starting to sting, and she tried not to touch them. "I'm not sure," she admitted. It was the only thing she was sure of anymore.


	23. Chapter 23

Battles, no matter the length, tended to spread their debris far and wide, and Bex's fire duel with Seth was no exception. After some debate, it was decided that cuffs and shackles and a mask weren't enough to keep the Skull King subdued, so Roman and Bayley made an impromptu mud bath, with the help of Sasha, and submerged Hunter fully. Then Bex wound the mud-wrapped body with gentle flames—Seth was too weakened to help—and Charlotte ensured that Hunter was indeed still alive.

"It would solve a lot of problems if he were dead," Drew remarked, holding the Skull King's chain-mail cuff in his hand. 

"And it would also create a lot of new ones," Charlotte retorted. "This fight is far from over. Right now we're just trying to turn its tides in our favour." She motioned for Bayley and Roman to step away from Hunter's encased body and she scratched a few runes into his muddy shroud. "Roman, I need a drop of blood." To the former Shield soldier's credit, he didn't balk or complain; he simply picked up a sharp rock, made a small cut on his forearm, and held out the bleeding wound. "Trace the runes," she instructed, moving back to give him room to work. "That will allow you to control the . . . body. I'm not sure what to call him right now. The enchantment should last until the southern lands so you don't have to carry it, but try not to put it down too often." Once the runes were filled with Roman's blood, the air-archer murmured a quick spell and the encased body rose to Roman's hip before levelling out. "Try it out while we're still here," she added with a hint of a smile, "because it's a long way to the southern lands and he'd be heavy to carry."

Roman gestured at the levitating body. "Do I have to say something out loud or just . . . think it?"

"Just thinking it should be fine." Charlotte held her hands behind her back so she wouldn't be tempted to interfere, but after frowning for a moment, Roman held out a hand and Hunter's encased body turned upside down. "Is that what you meant to do?" she asked cautiously. No two elements joined together well, but air and earth often had a particularly difficult time working in harmony.

Thankfully, Roman didn't take offence. He simply laughed, making the body stand on its head before sobering up. "Yeah. I should be okay. At the worst, I'll have my horse and his to help with the burden." Then he looked over to where Seth was sitting with Dean. "I'm guessing you're not coming back?"

Seth shook his head. "Nothing for me there but you, and if you're coming back up here with your family," he said, shrugging as he stood, "I might as well start getting used to how things are here."

Roman nodded slowly, and the Four Horsewomen watched the exchange with a mixture of empathy and awkwardness. They all knew how difficult it was to leave someone behind, not knowing if you'd ever see them again. "Dean? What about you?"

Dean's shrug was jerky, and Bex wondered if he felt out of place with his former Shield brothers now. "Probably wearing out my welcome in England, so I might stick around. They get along with Renee," he added, gesturing to the Four Horsewomen, "so maybe they'll find a spot for another air-archer. I hear the winds can be wicked up here in the winter."

Charlotte's smile was a marvel to see. It wasn't her polite princess smile or battle-hungry grin, but a combination of excitement and hope. "They are. I think you'll love it."

"Stay." Roman motioned vaguely at the encased body and it hovered in the air behind him as he walked over to Dean and Seth. Drew and Bayley quietly went over to the horses the Skull King and The Shield had been riding and coaxed them over to the clearing. "I hope you're both up north when I get there," Roman began, "but if you're not, know that you will always be my brothers. That bond didn't come from the cuffs." He held his hand out to show his now-beadless cuff, hand clenched in a fist. "It wasn't something Hunter or his sorcerers made. That was us. It _is_ us, and we can make it better. That's what I'd like to do when I come back."

Dean made a fist and touched it to Roman's. The stark contrast of his scars against Roman's mostly intact cuff showed just how far they had to go indeed—but also that it could indeed be done. "I'm in."

Only Seth hesitated, looking at the tatters of his cuff, links and blood and torn skin. "I don't think we can ever make up for what we've done," he said softly. "Or at least I can't. But I want to try, if you'll let me. If you'll help me." He added his fist to his brothers', almost creating a triquetra. The past hung heavy on them all, but Dean was a glimpse of what was possible.

"I'll see you soon, then." Backing away, Roman looked towards the Four Horsewomen and Drew. "And all of you, hopefully."

Drew shook his head slightly as he stepped forward, offering his free hand. "I have my own lands to tend to, and I need to get back to them. But like Charlotte said, this fight is far from over. When it sparks up again, Scotland will be here, ready to fight. I shouldn't speak for Finn or Paige, but I'm sure Ireland and England will promise the same."

"That's good." Roman paled a bit as he patted his horse's flank. "Between Hunter's warriors and everyone under Queen Stephanie's command, it won't be an easy fight." He reached over and nudged Seth's horse over to where Dean and Seth were sitting before turning to Bayley. "It's been an honour. I'm glad I didn't have to fight you, but I'd be even happier to learn from you when I get back."

Bayley blushed with delight, and Bex couldn't hide her smile. Their earth-etcher was all too often overlooked, and it was high time she got the recognition and accolades she deserved. "Likewise. Except the killing stuff." Her gaze dropped as she added, "Although given what we're going to be up against, I guess I should learn some of that too."

Roman turned to the other three Horsewomen and bowed. "Watching the four of you reminds me of what it used to be like with my brothers and me. Not . . . not the destructive parts, and yes, I know we have to pay our dues. But the times in between, when we could just be brothers, be ourselves. I hope we can get back to that. Thank you for giving us the chance."

"Let's hope you all make the most of it. Did you bring water with you?" Sasha asked. "I can enchant your supply so it lasts longer."

"That would be appreciated. I imagine I'm going to get some less than friendly welcomes on my way back, and not just because I have a floating body in tow." After pointing out his water bottles to Sasha, Roman turned to Bex. "Could I have a word before I leave?"

"Of course." Bex nodded to Charlotte before following the massive earth-etcher away from their gathering. Once they were far enough so they wouldn't be overheard, Bex motioned over to Seth and Dean. "We'll do our best to protect your brothers—and you, when you arrive. But we also have a lot of refugees in our lands, so you three shouldn't expect warm welcomes, at least not right away."

Roman's grimace seemed to twist his whole face in agony. "I know. And in some ways, I know we don't even deserve the chance. We didn't just attack one or two villages; it was dozens. We didn't just kill a hundred people; over the years, it's been thousands. Like Seth said, we might not ever be able to make up for what we've done, but we'll try. And I can't speak for my brothers, but I will fight against the Skull King with every bit of life left in me." His gaze kept being drawn back to Seth, and he cracked his knuckles nervously. "I know I don't have the right to ask you to look after him. I know he hurt Sasha and he hurt you. But I believe he's a good man at heart; he just needs the chance to bring that back out. He's his own worst enemy most of the time."

Bex pursed her lips, trying not to recall the fierce kiss in the midst of battle. "Most of us are."

"I know. I just worry that he's going to be his own undoing—that he'll decide he can't be redeemed and then he'll. . . ." Roman trailed off, unwilling to commit his worst fears to words.

"We'll keep an eye on him," Bex assured Roman. "Safe travels. I hope your family is well."

The mention of his family brought a bittersweet smile to Roman's face. "So do I. It might take my wife a little while to get used to the climate," he added with a chuckle, "but I think she'll like it here. She'll at least appreciate the company. If I'm not careful, you might find yourselves with a fifth Horsewoman."

Bex laughed and shook her head. "Four's a good number, but we'll take all the help we can get in the settlement." Looking past Roman, she saw Sasha finishing up with his horses. "I think your horses are ready to go."

"I'll be off then." Roman waved to the different clusters of people on his way back, asking Charlotte a few last-minute questions about the runes and the spell before he rode off, the encased body following in the wake of the horses like an eerie wagon.

"We should be getting back too," Sasha pointed out. "This was just supposed to be scouting trip, not a battle, remember?"

Bex's incredulous laugh bordered on delirious. Now that the rush of battle had almost completely drained away, she felt exhausted and a bit jittery. Had they really just left the settlement that morning? It felt like days ago. "I want to tend to the skull," she said, "but not today. It should be safe enough where it is for now."

Charlotte walked side by side with Bex over to their horses. "Need help getting up?" Normally the question was a joke, a jab at her shortness, but at the moment it was genuine concern. "Will you be okay riding on your own?"

Glancing over to where Dean and Seth were getting on their horses, still deep in strained conversation, Bex nodded. "I'll manage. We should have them at the front, though, where we can see them."

"Agreed." Then Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "What happened in that fire, Bex? Something is bothering you. Do you think it was too easy? That it's a trap of some kind?"

"No. I'm just . . . drained. And a bit daunted. Seeing some of the stuff Seth can do was scary, Charlotte. I don't like thinking I'm capable of that." When Charlotte draped an arm around her shoulders, Bex leaned into the embrace eagerly, needing an anchor. 

"We're all capable of good and bad, Bex. It's what you choose to do that matters. You know that. We live that every single day." Charlotte pointed to their settlement, just a hint of a silhouette in the distance. "We could have been like the Skull King—worse, even—running roughshod from the ocean to the Mediterranean, taking what we wanted and destroying the rest. Instead we build. We rescue. We defend. That's who we are."

"With a little bit of fighting," Bex pointed out. "And probably too much mead."

Charlotte shrugged. "Not as much as we could, though. Now get on your horse, woman, before I sling you over the back of mine. I want to get home and bathe and eat and _rest_."

Bex thought all of those things sounded glorious and, after her battle with Seth, she had earned them. She didn't think the kiss quite fit into that equation, but the more she thought about it, the less out of place it felt.


	24. Chapter 24

As they rode back to the northern settlement, they realized they hadn't decided on what to tell the villagers and the remaining warriors and knights. Unsurprisingly, no one opted for complete honesty. There were too many refugees taking shelter in their lands for them to be happy about the prospect of a deal being made with the Skull King. In the end, they decided to say there was a brief fight in which they managed to capture Seth and nullify his cuff as well as Roman's, plus steal Hunter's command cuff. "We'll have to intercept Roman before he arrives to tell him the official story so he's aware," Bayley pointed out, "I suppose I could try sending it through the ground. That's a lot of distance to cover, though." The challenge seemed to invigorate her, however, and she started discussing the possibility with Sasha as they headed to the stables.

As Charlotte, Bex, Drew, Dean, and Seth dismounted and handed their horses off to waiting attendants, Asuka approached, eyeing Drew with interest. "You brought me a puzzle," she declared, holding out a hand. "Let me see."

With a small shrug, Drew placed Hunter's cuff in the sorceress's hand. "Each of those beads needs to be destroyed," he explained. Then he waved down one of his passing warriors. "Find Sheamus and William. I need to speak with them." The warrior nodded and hurried off.

Asuka let the cuff slide from hand to hand, watching how it glinted in the setting sun. "This is ugly magic," she said simply. "Magic is supposed to be a connection—a road, this way, that way. This only takes. It will be an honour to destroy it." Her fingers were already working deftly, spinning beads.

"If you need help, let Bex know!" Then Drew bowed his head. "I want to talk with William and Sheamus and get all the fighters from the Three Kingdoms ready for their departure. Queen Stephanie's response will be swift, I'm sure, and I doubt it will all be coming your way."

"I agree. I'm going to have a bath," Charlotte declared, stretching out her shoulders. "Please let everyone know we'll hold a meeting in the mead hall tomorrow to tell them what happened and what we learned." The time to relax would be wonderful, but it would also give them another half day to solidify their story.

Asuka nodded curtly. "Of course." Then she looked at Dean. "Your wife is on the docks, if you want to go see her." Still experimenting with Hunter's cuff, she wandered off slowly.

"Thanks." Dean looked to Bex and Seth, all that remained of their scouting group. "Want to go visit Renee?" he asked his Shield brother. 

Seth's gaze warmed. "Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice. If you don't think she'll mind." He glanced around warily. So far, none of the refugees seemed to recognize him, but Bex assumed it was only a matter of time. The Skull King probably hadn't planned on witnesses, so concealment wouldn't have been a huge priority during his attacks.

Dean's answering smile was strained, but hopeful. "I think she'll be happy to see you," he replied. 

Side by side the brothers walked down to the shore, and Bex watched them for a moment before going to get something to eat. She didn't particularly feel like company, so she took her food to her dwelling—generally frowned upon, as it attracted animals to more buildings—and ate slowly. Now that she had finally stopped—stopping thinking, stopped worrying, stopped moving—all her aches seemed to swoop in at once, and it was a struggle to finish even the small meal she had gathered for herself. Once she had, she curled up and tried to have a short sleep, but though her body was spent, her mind had started whirring again. "Fuck," she swore, heaving herself off her bed. If she couldn't sleep, then at least a heated bath would ease her muscles.

Charlotte was just leaving the bathing house when Bex arrived. "Did you want company? Sasha had heated up all the tubs on the southern side when I was in, and they should stay warm for a while."

Bex shook her head tiredly. "You should go eat. I just want to soak for a bit. We can talk later."

"Okay. Be careful that you don't fall asleep." Charlotte ruffled Bex's hair as she went past. "I'll tell people not to bother you."

The bathing house paled in comparison to what Queen Paige had in her castle, but for their lands, it was quite generous, with several different tubs situated around the room, each large enough to fit two people comfortably. As Charlotte had promised, half of them were steaming gently, creating a lovely haze in the air. It was so soothing that after Bex had undressed and tied up her hair, she simply stood for a few moments, basking in the thick, warm fog. When she finally stepped into one of the recently heated tubs, she submerged herself to her shoulders. The enveloping warmth reminded her of her battle with Seth, and she splashed water on her face to clear her thoughts.

It was as if her thoughts had summoned him, though, because there was a knock on the door soon after. "Bex? It's Seth. Charlotte said you were here."

Charlotte had also said she would make sure that people didn't bother her, but apparently Seth didn't qualify as a person to the air-archer. Bex wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. "Come in." Sighing, she sank down in the water to her chin. If he was already having problems in the village before night even fell, how could they possibly offer shelter to him and Dean, let alone Roman and his family when they arrived?

Seth kept his gaze down as he shut the door behind him. "I just wanted to apologize without everyone else around," he said, voice so low it almost merged with the sloshing of the water in Bex's tub.

"For what?" Bex asked. "Most of the apologies you owe have nothing to do with me."

"I know I have a lot to atone for," Seth agreed, edging closer, "and I'll never be able to make amends for it all. But if I start with the smaller things, maybe the bigger ones will get easier with time."

Bex nodded slowly. She couldn't fault him for that. There was no way you could truly apologize for burning down someone's village or killing their family, but he had to try. "Okay." He was beside her tub then, crouching down so she didn't have to crane her neck to look up at him. "I still don't know what you're apologizing for, though."

Seth leaned his arm on the edge of the tub, the remaining links of his tub fogging up from the steam. "I wanted to apologize for kissing you."

"For—?" Bex rose out of the water a bit before she caught herself, but Seth's gaze didn't stray from her face. She had expected an apology for hurting Sasha—which really should have been given to the water-weaver herself—or for getting the Four Horsewomen involved with the golden skull or even for their raging battle in the midst of the flames. 

"For kissing you without your permission," he clarified. "In the heat of the battle, the flames always intensify whatever you're feeling the most, whatever urge is strongest, and. . . ." He dipped his hand in the water, watching the drops slide down his fingers. "I thought you were going to kill me in combat—I deserved it; I know I did—and all I could think of . . . all I wanted was to have one last good thing to hold in my mind as I died."

"Oh." Seth's hand wasn't at all close to her in the tub, but Bex was very aware of it all the same. "Well, apology accepted, I suppose."

"Thank you." The steam gave his dark eyes a silvery sheen. "I guess that means I should apologize for something else."

"What now?" Despite the warmed water, Bex felt herself start to shiver.

"Because I still want to kiss you." The confession was halting and slow, and he didn't move at all as he watched for her reaction.

Bex pressed her back against the tub, needing something solid to focus on. "So you say."

Now Seth was the one who was confused. "What do you mea—?"

"If you really wanted to kiss me," Bex explained airily, "you aren't doing a very good job of it."

Seth leaned back a bit, as if unsure of his welcome. "I don't want to make you get out of your nice warm tub."

Bex didn't even blink. "So don't." The aches in her muscles had been replaced by something smoother, deeper, and her mind felt like it was swimming in a pool of mead.

Straightening up, Seth looked down at her, gaze dark and hungry. "Is that an invitation or a request?" His lips twitched a bit as he added, "Or an order?"

"Which do you want it to be?" Bex waited until he had raised a leg over the tub's rim to continue. "Your clothes are going to get wet," she murmured. It wasn't an exact echo of their encounter at the river, but then again, they weren't the same people anymore either. Their battle had changed her and, she hoped, him as well.

"I can take them off," Seth echoed with a smile, "if it would make you feel better." That _was_ a direct echo; Bex knew because the words had embedded themselves in her brain, haunting her dreams every night since the river.

She gave the smallest of nods, trying to keep her gaze on her face as Seth disrobed, but his heavily muscled arms and chest were distracting. So were his thighs, and everything in between. He stepped in the bath gingerly, staying to the far side of the tub as the water adjusted to a second occupant. "If you want the apology," Bex whispered, "you have to do something worth apologizing for."

Seth didn't need much more encouragement. He surged forward in the tub, sending water splashing over the rim and onto his clothes as he pulled Bex towards him and kissed her. There was nothing transcendent about this second kiss—possibly their third, if Bex included the antics of the fire-snake—nothing luminous. It was just hunger and fire and as Seth's hands slid down her back, Bex finally knew what flames felt like to everyone else. The steam turned his hair into a dark halo, framing his face in damp curls as he moved down to kiss her throat. "Is this worth an apology?" he murmured against her shoulder, hands curving around her hips.

"Not yet." It was madness, she knew it was, but she wanted to wrap her legs around him, have him push her up against the tub wall and make the fever in her skin and the fire in her soul merge into one searing, ceaseless flame. When he eased a hand up the inside of her thigh, Bex gasped, curling one hand around his shoulders. The other went to the remains of his cuff, plucking lightly at the links as if they were strings on a lyre. He groaned against her chest, spreading her legs wider and—

"In my _tub?_ Seriously?" The door slammed behind Sasha, the steam doing nothing to hide the vexation in her face. "I just heated that and you're . . . you're— _in my tub, Bex! MY TUB!_ "

The redness in Bex's cheeks was part embarrassment, part arousal, and she untangled herself from Seth clumsily. "Sorry, Sasha. I didn't mean—"

"In my tub!" Sasha yelled, shaking her clenched fists. "It's a good thing I was close by or else you would have. . . ." She glared at Seth and shook her head. "If you're going to fuck, at least go in one of the northern tubs. I haven't touched those yet." Shaking as if a spider had found its way into her clothes, Sasha left the bathing house, slamming the door shut behind her. 

Bex sank back down in the water and tried not to laugh. "Sorry. I forgot that she can sense things through water she's enchanted for a certain amount of time afterwards."

Seth hauled himself out of the water and extended a hand to Bex. "Apologize to her, not to me." Glancing down at his now-sodden clothes, he laughed. "If you want to go catch up with her and explain, I understand—"

As soon as she was out of the water, Bex wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. "I'm still waiting for you to do something worth apologizing for," she replied, nudging him towards the tubs Sasha hadn't touched. "And since I know you can heat up water. . . ."

"I don't think that will be a problem." Seth lifted her easily and their bodies joined before he even reached a tub, the temperature of the water the last thing on their minds.


	25. Chapter 25

The worst part of a battle could be the aftermath, when all the broken pieces and shattered people were picked up and had to be attended to, when the path forward was no longer so clear. The showdown with the Skull King had been shorter than most of the Four Horsewomen's battles, but they knew it was only the first of many and that they couldn't rest for long. Even if they had managed to vanquish him for good, there would always be another enemy, another fight.

One of those fights was brewing in the heart of their settlement. It wasn't violent or even mean, but it still cut the Four Horsewomen to their core. Many of the refugees had already felt uncomfortable when Queen Paige brought Dean along with her contingent; he hadn't been involved in The Shield's most recent attacks, but he was still notorious enough that they knew who he was and what he could do. It had taken a lot of convincing from Asuka to assuage them, and even that was fragile. When the Four Horsewomen had come back with Seth in tow, tensions rose even higher. Once word went around that Roman would be arriving with his family, many of the refugees went to the Four Horsewomen and said they didn't feel safe with The Shield in the settlement, and it gave the women a dilemma. If they cast out The Shield—including Dean and Renee—Charlotte and Bayley would lose valuable mentors, and the Horsewomen couldn't be assured that the men would continue on their path of redemption. If they let The Shield stay, however, the villagers would question the Four Horsewomen's allegiances and their ability to lead, which could lead to unrest in the settlement. In the end, the Horsewomen had a small cluster of buildings built away from the settlement for The Shield to use. The distance placated some of the refugees, but many still chose to leave. They didn't bear the settlement or the Horsewomen any ill will, but they also didn't feel like they could stay and feel safe.

Another conundrum was what to do with the golden skull. Bex still had a hard time thinking of it as Shawn's, but she knew there had been a very real man behind it, a man with family and friends who deserved respect and peace. The choice to retrieve it from its hasty burial spot by the waterfall was simple enough; it would have been too easy for an animal or even an innocent wanderer to unearth it. "I don't think Hunter can track us with it," Seth said. "But in all honesty, I wasn't thinking when I stole it. I just . . . I had a moment of clarity, and those were so rare when I had the cuff on, so when I had the idea to take it, I didn't think twice about it."

Bex glanced down at his wrist, which now had more scars than links of chain. There was only about a row left since they had been taking removal—and their tangle of a bond—slowly. Asuka had helped unhook many of them with her magic, but the ones Bex helped with seemed to heal better. Seth claimed it was because they shared the same element, but she wasn't so sure. "What if we would sail far to the north, weigh it down, bind it to all four elements, and drop it into the ocean?" Bex suggested. She was sitting close enough to Seth to touch him, but she kept her hands in her lap. With the mistrust some villagers had for The Shield, she was careful to not appear too attached to him, but it was getting harder and harder to maintain the facade. "Or does he have family left? I would say they should have his remains," she added, "but if that's going to make them a target for Queen Stephanie. . . ."

"Then it might be better if we buried it somewhere." Bayley gazed at the golden skull, which sat at the centre of the table. The inextinguishable flames that Bex had thought might be part of Seth's spirit had finally disappeared, but the skull was no less eerie. The feather and the rock sat in front of it like offerings. "It doesn't sound like Shawn would want people to suffer on account of him, and I can't imagine his family would either."

Dean shook his head. "He wouldn't. We didn't know him well—at least I didn't—but he was a good guy. I used to imagine Hunter was like that once." Renee leaned against his arm and kissed his cheek. 

"Then when Roman arrives," Sasha suggested, "we should do a binding. Since The Shield knew him, or at least of him, that could act as a familial tie. We can use double fire, double earth, double air. . . ." She reached for a small braid in her hair, now a soft lichen green, and twirled it. As the only one without an elemental partner, she felt somewhat adrift. The other Horsewomen had been doing their best to reassure her, promising they would look for other elementals—especially water-weavers—so they could all learn more about their powers and be less likely to align with tyrants like the Skull King, but that did little for the loneliness she felt right then.

"Roman and his family should be here within a day. The last time he sent a message, he didn't sound far away." Bayley had been thrilled to learn she and Roman could communicate through the earth and she was getting better at it every day, but she didn't want to alienate Sasha either. Bex could tell that Bayley looked at her and Seth or even Dean and Charlotte and missed that connection with Roman, no matter how much she wanted Sasha to feel included.

Charlotte turned to Bex and gave her a wink. "Good. Because I believe King Finn wants his loyal subject home for the spring equinox, if memory serves, so Bex will have to be on her way in a few days." Then the air-archer smiled. "Don't worry. We'll take care of the settlement while you're gone. Unless Finn decides to keep you there, that is. Then he might find a few ships coming his way."

Bex's laugh sounded brittle to her ears, but none of her sisters commented on it. "He knows I'll go home for good when I'm ready," she said simply, "and I'm not ready yet. But it will be nice to see family and old friends again." She purposefully hadn't brought up the subject with Seth, and she could feel anxiety radiating from him. 

The discussion turned to more serious topics, like getting ready for the Skull King's inevitable retaliation and Queen Stephanie's wrath. Having so many extra warriors and knights in the settlement hadn't been ideal, so they needed to build some temporary buildings in advance. Bayley raised the possibility of creating structures with their magic, but no one was sure what effect being in such close, constant contact with magic would have on non-users. "They could be storage buildings the rest of the time," Dean pointed out. "They won't go to waste."

Renee cleared her throat softly as she stood. "If you're going to be talking about battle plans, I'll leave so I don't disturb you. Bex, when you're done, could I speak with you?"

Sasha made a shooing motion to Bex. "Go ahead. We won't make any decisions without you."

"Thanks. I'll be back." Bex followed Renee outside and gestured for her to lead the way. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "I know some of the villagers still aren't comfortable with The Shield being here, but if they're causing any trouble for you. . . ." It was such a delicate line to tread, balancing the needs of the people who had been her responsibility for years against the potential of helping three powerful elementals turn their lives around. 

"Nothing Dean and I can't handle." Renee's smile was small but genuine. "We sought refuge in a few places before Queen Paige took us in, so we're used to frosty welcomes. We just do our best to contribute wherever we are and hope that we prove ourselves over time."

"I hope they come to accept you. From what The Shield have said about the Skull King's forces, we'll need all the help we can get," Bex replied, "and the more elementals we have, the better. Beyond that, though, I think they deserve the chance. The Horsewomen and I might not have exactly been burning down villages before we started this settlement, but we did our share of bad things. The scales might not ever balance, but I like to think we're getting closer."

Renee gestured to the village around them. "You've done an incredible job here. You don't think the Skull King fears you all just because of your powers, do you? He sees you as a threat because of this." She pointed to the houses, the stables, everything that made the settlement work in harmony. "Because you can unify people without relying on fear or hostages or threats. You find a way to make what you want work for other people too."

"Thanks. That's not why you asked to speak with me, though, is it?" The Shield's cluster of buildings was within sight of the main settlement, and Bex and Renee stopped at the beginning of the path that led there. "We want this to work for everyone, Renee. Including you. Just because you don't have magic doesn't mean you don't matter just as much."

"I know. I actually wanted to talk about you—and Seth." Two large stones had been placed on either side of the trail's mouth, including a magical binding that Bayley could activate to keep The Shield from the village if deemed necessary. The Four Horsewomen hadn't liked the concession, but most of the villagers had demanded some sort of protection if The Shield were going to be allowed to live so close to their homes. Renee sat on one now, looking up earnestly at the fire-forger. "How are you two doing so far?"

Bex lowered herself onto the other stone, gazing at the path as she considered how to answer. "I don't know," she said at last. "Part of me is never sure if the . . . attraction is simply due to sharing an element. I know Bayley and Roman aren't drawn to each other like we are and neither are Dean and Charlotte." Renee didn't flinch at the last; her relationship with Dean was strong and sure, and she knew she had nothing to worry about regarding another air-archer in Dean's life. "But. . . ."

"But?" Renee leaned forward, face softened by a smile. "Bex, I was a bard in the Skull King's employ for a long time. I saw The Shield a lot, both in battle and back at the castle. I saw Seth with other women." She paused and grimaced a bit. "What I mean is that I saw him with other women and he didn't act like he does when he's with you. He could be gone for weeks at a time and when he returned, he would rather go for a run with the hunting hounds than find someone to share his bed. There was intimacy, but it always seemed like it was more to fill a void than anything else."

If Renee's speech was meant to reassure Bex, it wasn't working. "But he was also in thrall," Bex pointed out. "It was in Hunter's best interests to keep The Shield from forming attachments." When Renee raised an eyebrow, Bex made a gesture of concession. "Yes, that's how you helped Dean break free, but that must be rare. Now Seth is free and I don't want him to feel . . . obligated. Of course we would like him—and Roman, and you and Dean—to stay and help us fight the Skull King. But you're all free to go whenever you please."

"We know that. But what Seth feels for you isn't obligation or some . . . misplaced sense of devotion. Dean sees it too. It's not just breaking free of the cuff that saved Dean," Renee said. "It was having someone who cared enough to help him do it, someone to stand by him on the hard days and someone to share the good days with. I understand your apprehension, but I don't think Seth is looking to leave the instant the last piece of chain is removed from his skin. Didn't you see the way he was looking at you when Charlotte said you were going back to Ireland?" When Bex dropped her gaze, Renee took a deep breath. "Ah. You never told him." 

"No." There were a lot of conversations she and Seth hadn't had. Since they had catapulted from enemies to lovers without stopping much in between, it made some conversations feel rather odd. Mostly, though, Bex hadn't wanted to get her hopes up. If all that was between them was lust and attraction, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it had been a while since she'd had a lover and sharing her bed—or his, or wherever they happened to end up—again was comforting. She was fully prepared for it not to last, but she hadn't been ready for wanting it to. "I . . . I didn't want to pressure him. He's going through so much right now, between being reunited with Dean and breaking his connection to Hunter. So much of himself was lost in that bond and he needs to find his own way back to it. I don't want to muddy up his path."

"Did you ever stop to think you're a very important part of that path?" Renee reached out and Bex accepted her hand. "I'm not saying you have to marry him. I'm not even saying you'll be together by the end of the year. But I know a thing or two about stories, and I know people find each other for a reason. Find that reason before you swear off the possibilities altogether. I wasn't sure if Dean and I would last, and here we are."

"Is that a very long, bardic way of saying you think I should ask Seth to come to Ireland with me?" It wasn't that Bex hadn't thought of it herself; the idea of the journey to Ireland, alone with Seth in the Horsewomen's enchanted ship, held a lot of appeal. As she had told Renee, though, she hadn't want to push—or assume. Seth mostly likely thought the relationship was purely physical, and she didn't want to make things even more awkward for them both. If the villagers thought Seth had upset her or taken advantage of her feelings, there would be even more animosity towards him.

Renee laughed. "It's my very human way of saying I think he cares for you, maybe more deeply than he realizes, and even if he ends up not going, he would appreciate the offer all the same." Then she sat back and smiled. "But I'm just a bard, not a warrior."

"Bards tend to be the smartest of us," Bex remarked, gazing up at the sky. "How hard was it, helping Dean break his bonds and heal?"

"It's still hard," Renee said. "Every day can dredge up a bad memory. Each night can conjure up a horrible dream. It never ends. But love doesn't end either. We work at it together, and that makes it easier. It is definitely work, though." Glancing back towards the mead hall, Renee smiled. "Every single day has been worth it, the good and the bad. Dean and I have been through so much together, Bex, and a lot of it hasn't been pretty. It's the stuff that tends to get left out of the stories, but if any of it would help you, I'm happy to share."

"Thank you." Bex bowed her head in acknowledgement of the honour. Some considered bards to be mere vessels for stories, whether they came from the gods or others, but Renee was clearly full of stories entirely her own. "I would love to hear them someday. For now, I should probably get back to the meeting. . . ."

Renee nodded. "Tell Dean I went back home. There's a pup that keeps coming around our house," she added with a laugh, "and I think that means he's choosing us. I want to see if he's come around today. I haven't wanted to leave food out, so hopefully I'll be able to catch him."

"Good luck." Bex watch Renee head down the path to The Shield's little enclave, laughing when the bard started to run towards a small but stocky dog. She watched them for a few moments before heading back to the mead hall. There was a lot to do before she went to Ireland, from sinking a skull to the bottom of the ocean to hauling her heart up from her stomach, and she wasn't sure which would be easier. At least with the skull, she could use her magic; she didn't think she would be so lucky with her heart.


	26. Chapter 26

Despite Bayley's interpretation of his last message, Roman and his family didn't arrive for another three days. Travelling with young children was always a challenge, and he had wanted to detour to the site of the battle to make sure no traces of magic remained. When they finally reached the village, even his wife was surprised by how long the hug between the three Shield men lasted. "Now I have two of my families together," Roman said, his smile as wide as the moon. Then he motioned to Bayley. "Galina, this is the other earth-etcher I was telling you about."

Bayley had been almost as giddy as Nikki of the Cross when she saw Roman and his family approaching, but some of her former shyness started to creep back in. "It's an honour to meet you all," she said in a small voice. "Welcome to our lands."

The rest of the introductions went more smoothly, and once some of the refugees saw Roman's children—a young son nestled in either arm, a proud daughter at his side—some of their frostiness thawed, and that good will gradually extended to Dean and Seth as well. Bex was glad to see the change in attitude, though several villagers still didn't agree with giving The Shield sanctuary, and it also made her decision more difficult. Despite Renee's reassurances, she still hadn't spoken with Seth about going to Ireland, and the day of her departure was fast approaching. She had been on her way to find Asuka when she passed Roman and Seth sitting on the stones that bound the magic of the path. "Bex." Roman motioned her over. "Seth was telling me you helped remove his cuff."

Bex nodded slowly, hoping Seth hadn't shared exactly how. While Asuka only used magic to help dismantle the links, Seth had discovered that Bex was able to remove several, sometimes dozens, at a time without too much difficulty while they had sex—if Seth was able to keep that hand from caressing her instead. Last night they had torn the remaining links free, and Seth had decided he wanted to include the rings he had saved—some had been lost at the battle site, others in the crucible of sex—with Shawn's skull when they committed it to the ocean. He held out his freed wrist next to Roman's, which was equally bare, though the earth-etcher's scars were an angrier red and more raised. "You got the rest of yours off too. I'm glad. What did you do with it?"

"I brought it along," Roman replied. "I wanted to bury it as deep as I could, but I don't want to mess with that kind of magic. I thought you had mentioned a sorceress, so I would rather consult with her, if I could. Seth said he wanted his included with the skull when it's bound."

"Asuka. She would be happy to talk with you. She's working on figuring out whether it's safe to combine so many magics in one object," Bex added, "but she should know soon. I know you just got here, Roman, but could I speak with Seth, please?"

Roman's grin was part knowing smirk, part brotherly affection. "Of course," he said as he rose. "Thank you for the home and the opportunity. I know there's quite a few people who are wary of us being here, so I hope we can prove to them that we want to change and we want to do better."

Seth stood too, standing too close to Bex to be casual but not quite touching her either. "Dean and Renee and I sit around a fire most nights. You and Galina are welcome to join us, of course. The kids too, if you like."

"We'll talk about it later," Roman promised. "Where can I find this Asuka?"

Bex pointed to the far end of the settlement. "Her door is green. You'll know the one." After Roman waved and walked towards the sorceress's house, Bex turned to Seth. "I don't mean to take away your time with Roman. I know you haven't been able to speak freely as brothers for a long time. . . ."

"It's okay." Seth's smile was shaky, but wide. "He and I can talk later." Now that they were alone, he edged closer, their hands brushing and creating tiny sparks. They loved making fire dance across each other's skin, especially while they were fucking, and sometimes they weren't sure who had conjured a particular flame. "What's wrong?"

"You know I'm going back to Ireland soon," Bex began, not quite meeting his gaze. "I won't be staying there long. There's too much to do here, too much to worry about with the Skull King." Though it went against her instincts, she was starting to regret not killing Hunter. His death would have provoked Queen Stephanie to war, no doubt, but at least the Skull King himself would no longer be a factor. Roman said he had delivered the Skull King's encased body to Queen Stephanie only after he had ensured his family was safe, and he didn't stay long enough to see if the Skull King's sorcerers had been able to revive him. "But Finn wants me to meet his intended bride." At Seth's look of confusion, she added, "He's an old friend. And the king of Ireland."

"Most people might list his title first," Seth teased lightly as they walked down to the path to his house. Since he was living alone, his building was smaller than Dean's or Roman's, but it was still comfortable. Bex had spent a few nights there with him and found it cozy.

"Most people aren't his friend." Bex followed him inside his house and sat on his bed. "His people have already sailed back, so I was planning on going alone." It would have been so easy to look at the ground then, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. "Unless you would like to join me. You don't have to," she added hastily. "I've made the journey on my own before and I know you must want some time to reconnect with Dean and Roman, and—"

Seth leaned down and kissed her, cupping her jaw tenderly. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Bex moved back on the bed, drawing him down with her until they were tangled together. "Yes. But the decision needs to be yours. You . . . you don't owe me fealty for helping free you. I don't want you to feel like you're obligated to do—" It was hard to concentrate when he was on top of her, kissing her, making her burn up in ways that had nothing to do with fire.

"Does this feel like _obligation_ to you?" Seth murmured, biting her neck gently as his hands roamed. "In the village, I heard about some ship that you hold together with fire and will alone. The Skull King had heard rumours of it too. Is that the one you would be taking?"

That had been Bex's intent, but she was quickly realizing that her focus was going to be compromised if she was alone with Seth on her ship for a week or more, depending on the seas and if Charlotte and Sasha's magic would hold from a distance. If they kept losing themselves in each other's flames, the ship would probably burst at the seams and they would both drown. "I could. Or I could take a regular one." She arched up beneath him as his hands slid under her clothes.

"I've never seen the sea through fire." Seth peeled off her layers one by one until she was completely bare and he was stretched between her legs, kissing her hip. "Would you show me how to bind the ship with flame?"

In that moment, Bex felt like she needed to be bound with flames, but Seth's fingers would have to do, digging into her thighs as he teased her. "I could." As his fingers slid inside her, Bex felt like she was already on the journey, far out in the ocean, drifting on a ship of flame with Seth above her just like this, conjuring their own fire over and over again under the mantle of stars. It would certainly be better than going alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for a tiny hiatus, because I need to rewrite part of the ending. I wanted to be done before September, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Hopefully it won't take too long, though!


	27. Chapter 27

Elementals were rare. Bex remembered her father repeatedly telling her that when she was young, teaching her from an early age that she had to hide her affinity with fire. She had grown up thinking she would never find others like her, never be able to share her secret with someone else freely. Then she met Bayley and Charlotte and Sasha and her world had grown immeasurably. The Four Horsewomen had sailed oceans widely as well as the mainland rivers, but they had never come across others like them—until they started hearing rumours about The Shield. Now they had gone from feeling utterly isolated to meeting almost their mirror selves. All they needed to do was find another water-weaver, and then they would have two complete sets of elementals.

Once upon a time, it had been a miracle to find even one elemental. That day there were seven on the beach, all gathered around the golden skull. After breaking all the beads in Hunter's cuff and loosening all the links, Asuka had suggested that The Shield and the Four Horsewomen scatter them at sea. As for Roman and Seth's former cuffs, the sorceress said it should be safe to commit them to the ocean along with the skull, but she still cast binding spells on them regardless. Magical items had a sneaky way of coming back to haunt people, and they didn't want any of Hunter's thrall magic making a return.

"Part of me still thinks we should try to find his family," Bayley said, rolling the stone from the skull between her palms. "If something happened to Charlotte or Bex or Sasha, I'd appreciate someone else honouring their passing, but I'd still want to do it myself."

Since there was nothing left of the water that had been in the golden skull, Sasha held the box that held the remnants of Hunter's cuff and the thrall beads. "They sound like they were good people, Bayley," she assured her friend. "Given the circumstances, I'm sure they would understand."

Roman nodded slowly, holding out his hand for the skull's stone. "Shawn was a good man too, a religious man. These aren't the rites he would have chosen, but he could see that Hunter was becoming a monster. He wouldn't want to feed into that." When Bayley handed him the skull's stone, he made a fist around it and murmured something like a prayer.

Charlotte and Dean were concentrating quietly, each holding out a hand with their palm facing the other's. Between them, the feather from the skull spun and danced. Bex had always thought Charlotte's control over air was exemplary, but Dean was still teaching her new things every day. "He'll be at rest," Dean said simply. "That's what matters. It's better than anything Hunter would have done with his skull." The fact that the rest of Shawn's body was in a vault somewhere clearly bothered him, but there was only so much they could do.

"There was a lot I should have done when I managed to sneak away," Seth admitted, "but I know I couldn't do everything, so I had to pick one thing to save. I hope I chose wisely." He knelt in front of the skull and lifted it to eye level, almost like he was looking at Shawn himself. "Shawn saw the best in us, the potential. He would have used us as soldiers too, I know that, but he wouldn't have held us in thrall. Sometimes I wonder if Hunter killed him because he refused to enslave us."

Roman used his free hand to pat Seth's shoulder. "We can't think like that," he cautioned. "There will always be something we could have said or done differently. Right now, we just have to focus on being better moving forward." Then he set the stone in the large sack that the skull had been sitting on. "That's how we can honour Shawn the most. We can live up to our potential."

Charlotte floated the feather into Dean's hand and he put it in the sack as well. "And we can stop the Skull King. I know he and Shawn were friends, but I think the Hunter he loved is long gone."

Seth looked up at Bex and she did her best not to think of the last time he had been on his knees in front of her as she sat beside him on the ground. Then they each conjured a small flame to put inside the skull, making it glow like a candle; Bex's was a golden orange while Seth's was more red. "Sasha?" Seth held the skull out to the water-weaver for her contribution. 

Still holding the cuff's box, Sasha wrung water out of the air and let it drip down the skull. One drop sizzled when it touched a flame, but both elements lived in harmony. "Did you two bring your cuffs?" she asked, looking first at Seth as he set the skull in the sack and then to Roman.

Roman nodded, glancing briefly back to The Shield's isolated enclave. His wife and children were there, alone but for Renee's company, and he was clearly worried. The mood in the village was slowly turning to their favour, or at least to a more neutral stance, but now that he was free to be with his family without the worry of any danger or repercussions, he hated being away from them for very long. "Yeah, I have mine with me."

Standing, Bex grabbed Roman's arm and squeezed. "Galina and the kids will be fine. Renee too," she added as she looked at Dean. "Asuka has no problem keeping people in line if she needs to."

"Even us," Sasha confirmed with a wry smile. "Do we have to do a binding on the cuffs too, or are they just going in?"

Seth shrugged as he stood, instinctively reaching for Bex's waist and pulling his hand back just in time. "Asuka didn't seem to think so. She said it's more symbolic for me and Roman than anything."

Dean scoffed softly. "Renee asked if I wanted her ring back to add to the mix. She said I could get her a different ring, one without all that baggage—but I think I need to carry that burden for a little longer."

Charlotte bumped his shoulder with her own. "The ocean will always be here. Hopefully we will be too. If the time comes when you change your mind, we'd be happy to help." She looked at Sasha and they both held the sack open. "Seth, Roman, whenever you're ready."

Roman tossed his cuff in without hesitation, but Seth let his fingers linger over the links of chain. The ones that Bex had helped remove had a burnt tinge to them. "There were some good times too," he said quietly. "Not all the memories are bad ones."

"We don't have to forget everything," Roman told him. "That's not the answer. Learn from the bad, keep the good. It won't be easy, but we can do it together."

Once the skull, its trinkets, and Roman and Seth's cuffs were in the sack, Bayley tied it shut and led the way to the Horsewomen's ship, flickering with a slight coating of flame. "I doubt we'll need a shield wall," Bex explained as everyone got on board. "But at least it will be at the ready."

Seth got on behind her, using the uneven waters as an excuse to bump up against her. "Will you put it in full flame at least once on the way to Ireland?" he asked, pulling her off to the side as the others stepped aboard.

Bex gave a small nod, trying not to be too obvious. The rest of The Shield and the Horsewomen knew she and Seth were involved, but it still felt too fragile to be out in the open. "And I'll show you how to put it together and take it apart. Just in case something happened to me," she added quickly. "Then you wouldn't be stranded."

The slightest smirk made Seth's lips twitch, but he didn't reply again until everyone was on board and Charlotte had filled the sail with a bounteous wind. "It must be beautiful at night," he said softly.

"It is." Bex took a deep breath and let herself enjoy the unnaturally advantageous wind and unusually constant waves. Charlotte and Sasha had both offered to help enchant the ship for her and Seth's voyage to Ireland, but no one knew how well their magic would hold at a distance. It was going to be strange, not sailing with her sisters, but Seth's company would be enjoyable in an entirely different way.

When they were far enough from the shore, in a spot only ships on the longest voyages might go, Sasha brought the waves to a halt and Charlotte and Dean reined in the winds, bringing their ship to a slow stop. "I think this is a good spot," Sasha declared. Since she had no original relic remaining from the golden skull and no elemental partner that shared her magic, the others had tacitly decided that she could choose where Shawn's skull would be committed to the sea. Sasha walked to the starboard side and looked down. "Part of me wants to go down with it. Not to drown," she added quickly. "But . . . if this is his final resting place, he shouldn't be alone. If I went down, I could make sure the sack landed somewhere safe, where it's not going to be churned up by a storm."

Frowning, Charlotte looked back at the shore. "We're a long way out, Sasha. The waters must be deep."

"I know." Sasha bit back her irritation quickly. "I just . . . I think it's the right thing to do."

"For what it's worth," Roman said, coming up beside Sasha and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "I think Shawn would like that. He always loved being around people—laughing, learning. I think he would appreciate knowing someone made sure he was comfortable and safe at the end."

Sensing that Sasha wouldn't be swayed, Charlotte sighed and conjured a bubble of air, fitting it over the water-weaver's head. "I know the water is your friend, but air is mine, and I'll feel better if I know you have at least two elements on your side."

Laughing, Bex swooped in and kissed Sasha's cheek. "Not much for fire to do down there, so I'll just wish you luck."

Bayley pulled a small stone from her pocket, kissed it, and tucked it into the sack. "When you find the right spot, say _Rest_ and the stone's weight will increase, helping weigh the sack down."

The air bubble Charlotte had crafted made Sasha's smile even brighter as she sat on the railing, sack in one hand. "I'll be back soon. Watch for me."

"Always do," Bayley replied. As soon as Sasha dove into the water, though, she pressed her face against Roman's arm. "I hate that she doesn't have someone like the rest of us do. She deserves to."

"There are other elementals out there. We just need to find them" Roman patted Bayley's back reassuringly as he hugged her. While Seth and Bex had a sexual bond and Charlotte and Dean had a strange friendship blossoming, the connection between Roman and Bayley was like that of an older brother and a younger sister. It made Bex wonder what kind of relationship Sasha would have if they could find another water-weaver for her to align with.

They all trusted in Sasha's abilities, but that didn't stop each member of The Shield and the remaining Horsewomen from being relieved when Sasha resurfaced, a small wave bringing her up to the ship's railing. "I tucked the sack in between three large rocks," she reported, wringing water out of her hair. "I thought it would be like The Shield protecting him."

"One good deed." Roman moved to wrap one arm around Seth and the other around Dean as Sasha started summoning waves that would take them back to the settlement. "It's a start."

"There may be no ending in sight," Dean replied somewhat dourly, "but maybe that's not a bad thing. Sometimes it's better not to have a goal in mind. When Renee helped me get free, we lived day to day for so long. The idea of thinking beyond the next meal, the next sunrise, was too big to comprehend. It taught me how to deal with things as they come."

"There are enough horrors in the world," Roman agreed. "We don't need to make up more in our heads." As one, The Shield watched the settlement get nearer and nearer: their new home, one step on a path that might not have an ending, but at least it now had a direction.


	28. Chapter 28

As her third orgasm of the night neared, it occurred to Bex that until a few days ago, she hadn't ever had sex on a ship. Her first fire-bound ship had been a small craft and she had been too worried about losing control to even consider pleasuring herself when she left the ship drift. In the early days of the Four Horsewomen's sisterhood, there had definitely been some attraction, but they had all been so happy to find other elementals that they didn't want to endanger their bonds. She didn't particularly want to lose Seth's friendship either, but she thought both of them were mature enough to deal with a multi-faceted relationship.

Plus the temptation was too much to bear. When they had departed, Seth took off his shirt as soon as they were out of sight of the shore, and they barely held off fucking until night fell. Bex sincerely hoped that the energy wasn't somehow reaching Charlotte or Sasha through the spells they had cast on the ship, but even if it did, they would hardly be surprised: Charlotte had casually mentioned that it would be difficult to go into battle while pregnant, while Sasha had made a remark about hoping they didn't bring back any unexpected passengers.

They would arrive at Ireland the next day, so they took their time that night. Bex knew she would have been welcome in Scotland—Seth not so much, perhaps—but she wanted the extra time with Seth. Watching the stars whirl in the endless darkness of the night sky while feeling him inside her was exquisite and while they experimented every night on the ship—and some mornings, and most afternoons—when the stars were out, they tried to stick to positions that would let them both glimpse the sky. It didn't always work, but they didn't mind. Sometimes the flames crept over their bodies as they fucked, just another part of the dance, and it wasn't until they were finished and catching their breath that Bex brought the fires under control.

They had the additional glory of a full moon that night, steady and radiant, and Bex used it an anchor to keep her bearing as she rode him, leaning back and bracing her hands on his thighs. He had his fingers wrapped around her hips, another anchor of sorts, and his back arched up off the floor of the ship as his orgasm swept through him. "How long are we staying in Ireland?" he asked, voice rough and low. "Because if you expect me to not fuck you for days and days after all this. . . ."

Bex's eyes drifted shut as she moved faster, climaxing so suddenly her arms gave out and she flopped back against his legs. "As long as we're respectful," she murmured, easing off him, "Finn won't care."

"Respectful." Seth rose to his knees and eased Bex back against the floor of the ship. "You appear to be Finn's favourite sister. What better respect could I pay than to make his beloved sibling happy?" He kissed his way up her thigh and started licking her, making her moan and grasp at the supply bags behind her. After their second night, he had joked that they had packed far too many clothes and not nearly enough water to drink, while Bex worried about the sun burning her in some very tender places.

"He'll want to spend some time with me," Bex pointed out, sinking both hands into his hair as his teeth grazed her.

"I suppose I can share," Seth allowed, taking a break to nuzzle her thigh. "After all, I'll get you all to myself on the voyage home." He paused just as he was about to slide a finger inside her. "Right?"

"Yes." That _yes_ could have been an answer or a plea, and Bex was glad that Seth seemed to take both meanings to heart. They fucked on and off throughout the night, sleeping in a naked tangle under a blanket though they were hidden by Bex's fire-shield and warmed by Seth's aura of flame. 

When morning dawned, Bex could see the coast of her homeland in the distance and she started to reach for her clothes before Seth stopped her. "Once more," he pleaded. "In the flames?"

As beautiful as the stars were to watch, there was something about fucking while surrounded by fire that Bex knew she could never match with anyone else. The gentle flicker of movement and the added heat almost made it feel like another lover was joining them, urging them closer, deeper. "Finn's going to know," Bex laughed as she kissed him. "So don't be surprised if he glares at you."

"It will be worth it." And Seth made sure it was, thrusting so deeply she was gasping within in seconds, clutching at his shoulders for balance. It hurt a bit, but only in the most delicious way, and when they had slowed the ship so they could jump in the ocean to wash off, Bex felt her inner thighs tingle as if they had been scraped. When he noticed, Seth swam over and kissed her slowly. "I'll take care of that tonight," he promised, "even if I have to climb up to your window."

For a while, Bex was worried that he was going to do or say something presumptuous that Finn would take offence to, but after that final burning fuck, Seth actually behaved quite well. Under her guidance, he eased the ship into the port and helped her dismantle it piece by piece. Finn had sent enough warriors down that the parts of the ship were carried away and stored safely within minutes, and then the two fire-forgers were on their way to the castle, their bags slung over their shoulders.

"Becca!" Finn's voice was joyous and light, and he ran in a most unkingly way to greet her, sweeping her up in a hug. Glancing at Seth, he added, "You don't get to call her that."

"He knows," Bex assured him, kissing Finn's cheek and lingering in his embrace for a moment. Even when he had come to her lands, he had felt like home. "This is Seth. He's a fire-forger too. He's part of The Shield. You met his brother, Dean. Roman is also safe now, and living at our settlement along with his family."

Finn nodded slowly, gaze never leaving Seth's face. "There's lots to tell there, I expect. Since you managed to come, I'm hoping that means you were successful against the Skull King. When the last of my warriors arrived home, they said only that you were all still discussing strategy."

Bex glanced over at Seth and smiled. "The battle was short, but it's a long story. The Skull King still lives, and we might still need Ireland's aid, but for now, we're celebrating." She glanced around to see bright decorations on the trees outside the castle. "Speaking of which, I was promised I would get to meet someone. . . ."

"Finn! There you are!" When Bex thought of formal attire for a woman, she thought of Queen Paige's lush, dark gowns or some of the fancy dresses Charlotte had originally brought with her simply because she had nothing else at the time. The woman who approached them was wearing a dress that appeared to be made of ephemeral things like sighs and laughter, and she looked every inch a queen in her own right. "This must be Becca!" Then her hands flew to her mouth. "Please forgive me. I know that's a family name for you. It's just that Finn uses it so often that it's how I've come to think of you. My apologies. I'll call you Bex."

Bex shook her head and walked over to the beautiful woman. Her hair fluttered in an early morning breeze, but she didn't seem bothered in the least, and that made Bex like her even more. "Becca's fine," the fire-forger assured her. Judging from the radiant love in Finn's eyes, it was only a matter of time before the woman was family anyway. "You must be Veronica. It's an honour to meet you at last. Even with a war at my doorstep," she added with a laugh, "Finn insisted I be here for the spring equinox to meet you."

Veronica leaned forward and hugged her warmly. "Please, call me Vero." Only then did she seem to realize that Bex wasn't alone. "And who is your guest?"

Seth stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "My name is Seth. I'm a fi—" He stopped suddenly, looking to Bex for confirmation, but Bex hesitated. She remembered Finn mentioning that he had regaled Vero with tales of magic, but she wasn't sure how much was wise to share.

Finn gave a small nod. There was no one nearby to hear, but he had become so accustomed to hiding Bex's secret that it had become a reflex. "She knows."

Nodding, Seth continued. "I'm a fire-forger, like Bex." He left out any mention of The Shield, and Bex didn't blame him. If Veronica didn't know everything about his past, she couldn't judge him for it.

Veronica turned to Bex and squeezed her hand. "What a blessing for you! Finn has told me how few of your kind there are—elementals in general, not just fire-forgers. It must truly be a gift to finally find someone who understands your magic."

"It is." Bex felt her cheeks start to heat up and she hoped they weren't too red. "My sisters, the rest of the Four Horsewomen, also have magic, but different types. We always try to support each other, but it's nice to have someone with so much knowledge to give."

Over Veronica's shoulder, Finn raised an eyebrow to say he knew exactly what Seth had been giving Bex, but he kept quiet. "Let's get inside. All the rites won't start until the actual solstice, of course, but there's always something happening."

As soon as they entered the castle proper, Veronica reached for Seth's arm with an easy, natural grace. "May I give you a tour?" she offered. "I'm sure our Bex knows more of the secret places than I do, but I'm still learning my way around and showing you will help me remember better."

Bex breathed a small sigh of relief. Veronica was as close to an unbiased listener as Seth was likely to get, and talking with someone who held no preconceived notions about him or his past could only buoy his spirits. Of course, that would leave her with Finn, who was looking more like a stern father than a gently exasperated brother. When Seth glanced back at her, though, Bex nodded encouragingly. "It's a beautiful castle," she called out, lingering by Finn's side. "Unless Finn's made a mess of the place."

Finn watched his beloved lead Seth down a long hallway. "Speaking of making a mess . . . Becca, what are you thinking?" He took her by the elbow and started walking in the opposite direction, likely to the armoury. "The man was just in thrall to a tyrant, and you think he's a good choice for someone to share your bed?"

Desperately hoping the flame-shield had kept Finn—and any of his watchtowers—from seeing what had happened on the ship, Bex narrowed her eyes. "Does Ireland's king monitor everyone's beds now," she asked coolly, "or just mine?"

"Bex." Sighing, Finn stopped and grabbed her shoulders. "You know how much I love you. I just worry that you're getting involved too quickly. Too deeply. You saved him; you owe him nothing, so if you feel some sense of obligation—"

"I know I don't owe him anything," Bex replied, trying to steady her nerves, "nor does he owe me." Finn was only being a vigilant brother, a caring king, and she tried to not lose sight of that. 

Finn leaned against the wall and watched her for a moment. "You're both fire-forgers, though. Are you sure it's not—"

"Roman is an earth-etcher, and he treats Bayley like you treat me—like a sister. Dean is an air-archer," Bex continued firmly, "and he and Charlotte are only friends. Sharing an element doesn't equal sharing a bed, _Fergal_." When he held his hands up in surrender, her lips twitched in a smile. "I'm sure it adds to the attraction, but it doesn't account for all of it." Then she let her smile stretch, and if it was slightly strained, Finn either didn't notice or was smart enough not to comment. "I know to be careful. I'm not expecting it to last forever. For right now, though, it's good for both of us."

After conceding the point with a nod, Finn pulled her into a hug, resting his head on hers. "I would be a poor excuse for a king and an even worse brother if I didn't worry. It's my job, Becca." Then he pressed a kiss to her forehead before stepping back. "But I'll do my best not to find a reason to send him to the dungeon. I'm just glad you were able to make it for the spring equinox."

"Me too." Bex hooked her arm in his and adjusted the bag on her back. "The Skull King is still a problem, though. . . ."

Swearing under his breath, Finn looked up to the ceiling before starting to walk again, this time at a much calmer pace. "If that bastard's going to start a war," he muttered, "he'd better either get on with it or wait until winter."

Bex laughed. As if tyrants and their wars were so kind as to accommodate the whims and wants of others. "Why? Do you have big plans for the summer solstice as well?" When Finn's pace faltered ever so slightly, Bex brought them both to a halt. "Finn, what is it?" She tried to meet his gaze, but he kept looking away. "Is something happening during the summer?"

Smiling and cursing all at once, Finn rummaged in his pocket until he pulled out a ring to show Bex. "That will depend on Vero, of course—and her family; they came to visit as well—but I'm hoping so." Bex's delighted laugh rang through the hall and he desperately tried to quiet her. "Becca, they don't know yet! No one does except you and my family!"

"Sorry, sorry." Then she gave Finn a fierce hug. "I'm so happy for you, Finn." Then she thought back to Vero's delicate, flowing gown. "She's not pregnant already, is she?"

"No!" Finn gave her shoulder a gentle shove. "Not that you're one to talk! And who knows what the child of two fire-forgers would be? Probably a damn dragon!"

"You could only wish." Bex hugged Finn again, only in part to hide her blush. Marriage and children were definitely not anything she was ready to discuss with Seth yet, so she was very glad she and Finn were having this conversation privately. "Will I be invited to the wedding?"

"Of course. We couldn't have it without you. The rest of the Four Horsewomen are welcome, of course, and I'll be inviting Paige and Drew." Sighing, Finn kissed her cheek before playfully shoving her away again. "And I suppose I could be convinced to allow Seth to attend."

Bex tried to keep her smile small, but she failed utterly. "And his Shield brothers? Dean and Roman?"

"Don't push too far, sister. I'm still your king."

A brother of the heart who was her king. A man who shared her element and her bed. The three best friends and sisters she could ask for. Bex knew that the Skull King was going to cast his long shadow over the coming days, but with all those people on her side, she couldn't help but focus on the light.


	29. The original ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the ending as I originally wrote it, but it didn't feel right to have Bex go all the way to Ireland and NOT talk with Finn right away.

For a while, Bex was worried that he was going to do or say something presumptuous that Finn would take offence to, but after that final burning fuck, Seth actually behaved quite well. Under her guidance, he eased the ship into the port and helped her dismantle it piece by piece. Finn had sent enough warriors down that the parts of the ship were carried away and stored safely within minutes, and then the two fire-forgers were on their way to the castle, their bags slung over their shoulders.

"Becca!" Finn's voice was joyous and light, and he ran in a most unkingly way to greet her, sweeping her up in a hug. Glancing at Seth, he added, "You don't get to call her that."

"He knows," Bex assured him, kissing Finn's cheek and lingering in his embrace for a moment. Even when he had come to her lands, he had felt like home. "This is Seth. He's a fire-forger too. He's part of The Shield. You met his brother, Dean. Roman is also safe now, and living at our settlement along with his family."

Finn nodded slowly, gaze never leaving Seth's face. "There's lots to tell there, I expect. Since you managed to come, I'm hoping that means you were successful against the Skull King. When the last of my warriors arrived home, they said only that you were all still discussing strategy."

Bex glanced over at Seth and smiled. "The battle was short, but it's a long story. The Skull King still lives, and we might still need Ireland's aid, but for now, we're celebrating." She glanced around to see bright decorations on the trees outside the castle. "Speaking of which, I was promised I would get to meet someone. . . ."

"Finn! There you are!" When Bex thought of formal attire for a woman, she thought of Queen Paige's lush, dark gowns or some of the fancy dresses Charlotte had originally brought with her simply because she had nothing else at the time. The woman who approached them was wearing a dress that appeared to be made of ephemeral things like sighs and laughter, and she looked every inch a queen in her own right. "This must be Becca!" Then her hands flew to her mouth. "Please forgive me. I know that's a family name for you. It's just that Finn uses it so often that it's how I've come to think of you. My apologies. I'll call you Bex."

Bex shook her head and walked over to the beautiful woman. Her hair fluttered in an early morning breeze, but she didn't seem bothered in the least, and that made Bex like her even more. "Becca's fine," the fire-forger assured her. Judging from the radiant love in Finn's eyes, it was only a matter of time before the woman was family anyway. "You must be Veronica. It's an honour to meet you at last. Even with a war at my doorstep," she added with a laugh, "Finn insisted I be here for the spring equinox to meet you."

Veronica leaned forward and hugged her warmly. "Please, call me Vero." Only then did she seem to realize that Bex wasn't alone. "And who is your guest?"

Seth stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "My name is Seth. I'm a fi—" He stopped suddenly, looking to Bex for confirmation, but Bex hesitated. She remembered Finn mentioning that he had regaled Vero with tales of magic, but she wasn't sure how much was wise to share.

Finn gave a small nod. There was no one nearby to hear, but he had become so accustomed to hiding Bex's secret that it had become a reflex. "She knows."

Nodding, Seth continued. "I'm a fire-forger, like Bex." He left out any mention of The Shield, and Bex didn't blame him. If Veronica didn't know everything about his past, she couldn't judge him for it.

Veronica turned to Bex and squeezed her hand. "What a blessing for you! Finn has told me how few of your kind there are—elementals in general, not just fire-forgers. It must truly be a gift to finally find someone who understands your magic."

"It is." Bex felt her cheeks start to heat up and she hoped they weren't too red. "My sisters, the rest of the Four Horsewomen, also have magic, but different types. We always try to support each other, but it's nice to have someone with so much knowledge to give."

Over Veronica's shoulder, Finn raised an eyebrow to say he knew exactly what Seth had been giving Bex, but he kept quiet. "Let's get inside. All the rites won't start until the actual solstice, of course, but there's always something happening."

As soon as they had entered the castle proper, though, Veronica resolutely threaded her arm with Bex's and started pulling her away. "I want to give her the tour," she insisted.

Finn laughed merrily. "Bex has been in this castle more than you have, my love."

Veronica merely smiled. "Then _she_ can give _me_ a tour of all the fabulous secret places you haven't shared with me yet." When she turned that smile on Bex, the fire-forger had an idea of why Finn was so enraptured with her. There was more to her beauty that just her appearance; genuine kindness radiated from Veronica, as warm and affirming as sunlight. "After breakfast, of course. You must be hungry after so long at sea."

Bex met Seth's gaze briefly. "The voyage wasn't too bad. With only two people, no horses, and hardly any supplies, we made good time."

Once again, Finn didn't look like he was convinced, but he simply kissed Bex on the forehead and urged her forward. "Go ahead. I'll give Seth the tour," he added, "since I know he hasn't been here." He took Bex's bag before she could protest.

For a fleeting moment, Bex felt guilty about leaving Seth to Finn's whims, but Veronica quickly swept her down to the kitchens, where she grabbed some food to eat as they walked. "I'm so glad you were able to come," Veronica began. Something about her voice reminded Bex of a cat's purr, musical and soothing. "I know the Skull King's attacks were getting very close to your home, so I would have understood if you hadn't been able to make it."

"We're hoping he'll need a while to regroup," Bex confided, "but unfortunately that war is far from over. We managed to thwart some of his plans, though, and convert some of his former allies, so we're hopeful." She wasn't sure how to explain what had happened with The Shield, but that was more Seth's story to tell than hers, and she hoped he got some time with Veronica; speaking with an unbiased listener would probably buoy him considerably.

Veronica crowded closer again, face brightened both by her smile and her blush. "I detest war. But if it must happen, if that's the only way to stop this tyrant . . . then, selfishly, I hope it is either a very quick war or otherwise delayed for many months."

Bex's gaze immediately dropped to Veronica's middle. Though her dress was almost diaphanous, she didn't appear to be pregnant. "If you have plans with Finn, don't worry. We know his allegiance is to Ireland, though we'll welcome any warriors he can spare."

Sobering a bit, Veronica nodded. "Of course. But I would like you here as well. I know you're so dear to him. Do you think you'll be able to come back for the summer solstice?" Her grin reappeared, stretching her cheeks. "We're hoping to have another celebration then." It was only then that Bex noticed the ring on Veronica's left hand. She must have come out to greet Bex before Finn had a chance to mention anything.

"It would be an honour." Bex hugged Veronica warmly. She had only just met Vero, but the woman had brought out such happiness in Finn that she couldn't help but like her. 

Veronica couldn't stop grinning, and Bex was surprised her feet ever touched the floor. "I'm sure Finn would like the other Horsewomen to be here as well, and I know he wants to invite King Drew and Queen Paige. And you can bring Seth, of course, and. . . ."

Bex happily listened to Veronica ramble about who she and Finn wanted to attend as they walked through the castle, any pretense of a tour forgotten. She thought back to The Shield, to Dean saying his road to recovery had been one step, one day, at a time. The days beyond the summer solstice were clouded with doubt and uncertainty, but at least there was some goodness on the horizon to look forward to.


End file.
